SEN. DURBIN: I guess I’m the only one at the table to disagree. Let’s get down to the basics here. The Bush administration has asked for tax breaks, $2 billion in the last Energy Bill, and protecting existing subsidies for oil companies, which are at this point in time experiencing the largest profit in their history. They are engorged with profit and when Senator Wyden goes to the floor and says, “Isn’t it time that we reduced the subsidy to the oil companies who are drilling on federal lands,” it’s opposed by the Republicans and the administration. I mean, the bottom line is this: If you do not tax these corporations at this level they will continue to run up the profits to sky heavens.

I don’t know where it ends. And they’re saying as much, this year maybe better than last. And it means that consumers will continue to be victimized unless they feel that ultimately they’re going to have to pay some of this money back. I’d like to see it come back. Rebates directly to consumers who’ve paid the price for this, but also investment. Investment in promoting energy independence and promoting new sustainable, renewable technologies. Businesses creating new jobs and good-paying opportunities for America with new technologies. And, Tim, we’ve done it before. Between 1975 and 1985 we got serious. We dramatically increased CAFE standards, we reduced our dependence on foreign oil by 30 percent over that 10-year period of time and our economy expanded at the same time. That’s when California took off and became a national leader in terms of their cars and their, their conservation of energy. We need the same kind of leadership in America. We need a new direction. The direction we’ve been going in for an energy policy is disastrous.

MR. RUSSERT: I’ll give you a chance to respond.

MR. BODMAN: The senator’s too smart to believe what he just said, if I may say. The—this, this president has led in terms of getting an Energy Bill passed, which was a year ago, has made a proposal and has now demanded an investigation. We’re working on—have asked the Congress for the, the permission from Congress for the Transportation Department to undertake a look at the CAFE standard. We asked for that in 2002. There was no...

MR. RUSSERT: That’s miles per gallon. Miles per gallon. Sorry.

MR. BODMAN: No—yes. Miles per gallon. What are called CAFE standards. We’re also working on increasing supply, or at least have asked to. The president has suspended the, the reintroduction of oil into the strategic reserve and has asked for ANWR.

MR. RUSSERT: Yeah, but stop, let me ask you about that.

MR. BODMAN: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: Because after Katrina we drove down on that strategic petroleum reserve fund.

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MR. BODMAN: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: And we’ve been repaying it. Putting it back in there.

MR. BODMAN: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: Putting it all back in there in case there’s a crisis. I remember back in 2000 when it was Al Gore vs. George Bush running for president of the United States.

MR. BODMAN: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: And Al Gore recommended that Bill Clinton draw out of the strategic petroleum reserve.

MR. BODMAN: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: And this is what candidate Bush had to say about it back then.

Let’s watch.

(Videotape, September 21, 2000):

PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: Today, my opponent, in response to public outcry, proposed that our nation tap into the strategic petroleum reserve. That’s bad public policy. The strategic reserve is an insurance policy meant for a sudden disruption of our energy supply or for war. Strategic reserves should not be used as an attempt to drive down oil prices right before an election. It should not be used for short-term political gain at the cost of long-term national security.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: Isn’t that exactly what the president is now doing?

MR. BODMAN: Tim, this, this president has been very consistent in his, in his application and management of the strategic reserve. We have not used the reserve for interruptions in supply. We have been asked by the Democrats when oil was $60 a barrel to remove oil from the reserve and put it into the marketplace in order to drive prices down. We declined to do that. Now we have oil at $75 a barrel. You know that the, the movement of prices is a function of the, the supply and demand as we’ve already talked about and it is not something that is, I think, going to be meaningfully affected by whatever happens to the strategic reserve. He has taken the position at this point in time to suspend the, the repurchase until the fall after we get through the driving season. So I, you know, it’s a, it’s a modest effort, it is a symbolic effort, but it is something that I think may help.

MR. RUSSERT: In all honesty, it’s a political effort before the midterm elections.

MR. BODMAN: I think it’s not. I wouldn’t call it a political effort. I would say that it’s an effort to, to affect the, the supply of gas, of oil in the, in the system and to, and to make a contribution to the reduction of price.

MR. RUSSERT: But his standard was a crisis or a war. We don’t confront any of those at this moment in terms of the oil supply. This was a reserve in times of real crisis. And we’ve stopped putting oil into it in order to affect the market price during the driving season. You just said that.

MR. BODMAN: Tim, Tim, the, the—we’re here today. I would say that there’s evidence, there’s, there’s apparently some evidence that we have a crisis. There is a lot of concern about this. And so the president is looking at everything, every tool at his disposal to put to work on it. And so, you know, I’m not embarrassed by that and I think it’s the right thing to do.

MR. RUSSERT: You think that the president’s action is consistent with his campaign pledge in 2000?

MR. BODMAN: I think that that was 10 years ago or nine years ago, whenever it was, and it was some, it was—times are different and the situation has changed. Fundamentally, this reserve, the strategic reserve, has not been used for the purposes other than trying to deal with disruption. And so we have been very conservative in the use of it and I think that stands this country in very good stead.

MR. RUSSERT: But you said we are in a crisis.

CONTINUED

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