M E M O R A N D U M

TO:      Reporters and Editors

RE:       Senate votes to

DA:      Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Senator Chuck Grassley today made the following comment after the Senate voted to temporarily stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  Grassley also voted for a broader Republican amendment that would increase the domestic oil supply and would have a long-term, positive impact on gas prices.  The amendment was not agreed to.

“The broader package offered by the Republicans actually follows the law of Economics 101 – if you increase the supply, you decrease the price.  We figure if you’re going to have an energy bill, it’s got to increase supply, which is what Iowans are writing to me about.  Besides expanding incentives for renewable fuels and energy conservation, it’s time to increase our own domestic supply of oil by developing resources in the outer Continental Shelf and in the coastal plain of Alaska.  Increasing supply is not only going to lower gas prices, but will also help our economy by keeping money in the United States instead of sending all of our money to countries where radicals can shoot it back at us.

“I agree with a temporary halt in filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which will decrease the cost of gas a little, but in the long-term it’s not going to solve anything.  The problem is that there’s nothing in the Democratic leadership’s amendment that will increase supply.  You’re still relying on a very finite amount, because 85 percent of the world’s oil supply daily comes from wells controlled by government, not private business.  In the end, we’re still at the behest of other governments who want to keep the supply down and the price up.”