Where I Stand

HOW DO WE MAKE GASOLINE AFFORDABLE?

We've all felt the pain of high gasoline prices - some of us worse than others. Consider a young mother with $10 in her purse, standing at the pump, trying to decide if she can get by on $5 worth of gas so she can buy a gallon of milk for her kids.

In 2008, the average Tennessee family will spend close to $5,000 on gas. You paid close to $3.40 the last time you filled up. Remember when it was $1.24 a gallon? That was the average before Senator Alexander took office, and he's done precious little to change it. Working-class Tennesseans feel helpless as they struggle to pay for things they cannot do without. They look to their leaders in Washington for answers, and what do they get?

Democrats in Congress tried to pass a sweeping energy bill last year that would have slashed tax breaks enjoyed by Big Oil and, instead, would have helped fund alternative energy sources so we could cut our dependence on expensive foreign oil. And it ordered Detroit to produce vehicles that get an overall average of 35 mpg by 2020.

But Senator Alexander, like the rest of his party and his president, threatened to block the bill if it robbed their friends in the oil industry of some $13 billion in tax breaks, and only when those, along with some of the alternative energy pieces, were carved out would they go along. When an emaciated version of the bill finally did pass, Tennessee's senior senator had the audacity to say: "I think there's credit to go all around."

Senator Alexander, who has taken more than $300,000 in contributions from large oil companies, also has voted against a windfall profit tax on oil companies that would have given money back to American consumers when Big Oil was making record profits.

Ours is a land known for its innovators - Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs - and I believe American innovation can produce alternative fuels that will make a real difference in our family budgets. And whether they use corn or switchgrass or soybeans, it'll open up a world of economic opportunity for Tennessee farmers.

If you will stand with me, I will stand up in the next Congress and support aggressive, innovative ways to break the stranglehold of the oil industry on our pocketbooks. I will settle for no less than an energy bill that will make a real difference in your life.

POINTS FOR TENNESSEANS TO THINK ABOUT:

  • An average family in Tennessee will pay nearly $5,000 this year to fuel their vehicles - more than double what they paid when President Bush took office.
  • The price of a gallon of gas in Tennessee has jumped by 113 percent since before Senator Alexander was sworn in, from $1.24 a gallon to nearly $3.40 today.
  • When Democrats tried to pass meaningful legislation last year to address the problem with a bill aimed at breaking our dependence on expensive oil, Republicans, including Senator Alexander, threatened to block it because it would strip their oil industry friends of some $13 billion in tax breaks.
  • Whether it's corn or soybeans or switchgrass, let's put American innovation to work and turn crops into alternative fuel that can lessen our gasoline consumption. And that can expand economic opportunities for Tennessee farmers.
  • Stand with me, and I will work to see aggressive measures brought up again that will free Americans from tyranny at the gas pump.

I Want to Hear from You!