Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) took to the Senate floor to blast Republican obstructionism Tuesday, after GOP Senators succeeded in blocking motions to proceed to legislation designed to address high gas prices and invest in alternative energy. The following are excerpts of her remarks on the Senate floor:

“Today at gas stations across the nation, the American people are suffering. They are facing sticker shock. They are having to choose, choose between something they might buy at the store for dinner and filling up the tank. That is a fact.”

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“Last year the oil companies pocketed $124 billion in profits, up from $29 billion in 2002. That means they have quadrupled their profits since 2002, four times. Let's think about it, America. What happened to your salary? Did your salary quadruple? I think we know the answer to that.

“We know Americans are losing ground. The average family is losing ground, thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Their salaries are not keeping up with inflation. The price of gas is out of sight. It is hard for them to get health care. Health care costs are out of sight. Food prices are going up. Everything is going up--tuition. But what do my friends on the other side say? They want to give oil companies these great big tax breaks.”

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“We tried to pass a bill today that, first of all, said to the oil companies: that is the end of your break. You need to either invest your profits in the future, in other technologies, or give it back to us, and we will do it on behalf of the American people.

“They said no. They will protect big oil until they have to pay the political price. Protect big oil, protect foreign oil.”

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“The American people are smart and getting smarter every day. They know the pain they are feeling at the pump has a cause. They understand the speculation on futures. We address that. We address that in the legislation on which they voted no.

“We said: you cannot take money and speculate on futures in an out-of-town market, an out-of-country market. You have to have transparency. Oh, no, they do not want transparency. That would be bad for the oil companies.

“If anyone ever says to you: there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans, look at the debate we had on global warming, look at the vote on global warming, and look at the vote we had today. There is an enormous difference. And it has to do with whose side you are on. In the case today, it was are you on the side of big oil and foreign oil or are you on the side of the American people? It is pretty clear.”

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“Today, we had a good vote also, but they stopped us. They stopped us from doing anything about gas prices, and their answer is drill in a wildlife reserve which, at most, gives us 6 months of oil, and, by the way, destroys a gift from God that a Republican President set aside.  That is not an answer. That is feeding the addiction.

“Are there places in America we could drill? Yes, there are. But what we need is a whole different long-term strategy. And that long-term strategy and fighting global warming will throw us off this dependence. That will make us a leader in the world. That will create green jobs, technologies we can export, and we will have an economic renaissance in the nation.”

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“We were ready, willing, and able to do it today. In closing I will say this: Whose side are you on? That is a question that every one of us has to ask ourselves. It ought to be: I am on the side of the American people, of America's families, of America's middle class, who is getting squeezed.

“It ought not be: I am on the side of big oil. And my Republican friends on the other side again, on the vote last week and this vote, have chosen sides. And the American people will decide who they want to have leading the country.”

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