Durbin jokes on Senate’s energy action

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) reads an official Senate transcript, saying it will help people understand how the Senate is dealing with high oil prices. He says Democrats have repeatedly tried to debate energy bills, 12 times in the past two months. He says Republican continue to block debate on Democratic energy bills that would lower gas prices, increase domestic supply of gas and renewable energy, and create new jobs for Americans. (1:02)

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Durbin says Republicans mistaken on supply

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) says Republicans are making a fundamental mistake in analysis of supply and demand. He says Republicans plan to lower gas prices by leasing more of America to oil companies at bargain prices, allowing oil companies to make record profits. He says eight years, divided by two oil men, equals $4 gas. (0:46)
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Durbin calls finding more oil useless

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill) says oil is a global commodity and that an increasing American oil production would not guarantee an increase in American oil supply. He notes that 1.6 million barrels of US oil were exported daily in the first four months of 2008 and that since the US only has 3 percent of world oil supplies, OPEC could slightly cut production to keep prices high. (0:57)
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Durbin promotes energy security

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) says the last time Americans embraced energy security was during the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s and that within a decade of that embrace, American energy use fell by 17 percent and GDP grew by 27 percent. He says increasing energy security is a technology deal and that Republicans are blocking deals that would bring increased energy conservation and renewable energy. (0:38)

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Death before taxes

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) says legislation increasing the taxes of companies sending jobs overseas would spur economic growth and that Republicans are unable to accept the notion that anybody’s taxes will go up, adhering to a “death before taxes” strategy. (0:35)
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Help them increase their crop yields, Casey says

At a news conference held in the Capitol, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) says we have too look at other options [in dealing with the food crisis]. One, to permanently increase crop yields so that nations can feed themselves. Second, to reduce the costs of overseas food networks, so that more of the food that is donated will feed the hungry instead of spoiling in warehouses. (0:32)


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Food Crisis just as damaging as terrorism

At a news conference held in the Capitol, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) says the instability that this [the food crisis] can create in countries around the world, can be just as damaging as terrorism. If we don’t deal with this in a direct way, we run the risk of needing more peacekeeping forces. (0:23)


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Obama Campaign Conference Call

Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and former Clinton administration official Susan Rice hosted a conference call discussing and analyzing Democratic Presidential Candidate Hilary Clinton's speech at the George Washington University today and talked about Senator Barack Obama's "Iraq plan". (21:00)
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