lamar alexander

We welcome Senator Alexander to the blog, and applaud his action to improve our energy situation.  - Jon Henke

Americans are feeling the pain at the pump. Hundreds of my constituents have written me with their stories of how record-high fuel costs are affecting their family budgets. One Tennessean who wrote to me is a diabetic who is having trouble paying for her insulin shots due to rising gas prices. She says: “Gas for work or insulin to live. That is the decision I have had to make several times daily.”

It’s time for Congress to take action. Forty-four Senate Republicans are co-sponsoring legislation to address these record-high costs. Our bill – the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008 – can be summed up in four words: “Find more, use less.”

“Find more” means we would increase U.S. oil production by one-third through offshore exploration and Western states’ oil shale. This will over time produce at least 3 million barrels a day. “Use less” means we would reduce imported oil by one-third by making it easier for millions of Americans to drive plug-in electric cars and trucks. This will over time reduce Americans’ use of oil by 4 million barrels a day. Just those three provisions – deep sea exploration, Western shale, and plug-in cars – will allow us to cut our oil imports in half.

Unfortunately, most Democrats still insist on trying to repeal half the law of supply and demand.

Instead of Economics 101, we might call this new theory “Obamanomics.”

When we say “offshore exploration,” they say “No, we can’t.” When we say “oil shale development,” they say “No, we can’t.” When we say “more nuclear power for clean electricity to power plug-in cars and trucks,” they say “No, we can’t.”

They would rather our country beg Saudi Arabia and other countries for more oil when we already have larger reserves than the Saudis offshore and in shale in Western states.

Republicans will do BOTH – find more and use less – and we intend to work hard and in good faith to find a way for Democrats to say “yes we can,” too.