WEEKLY ADDRESS: Ending Subsidies for Big Oil Companies

WASHINGTON, DC— In this week’s address, President Obama called on all Americans to place their bets on America’s future as we reduce our dependence on foreign oil by expanding domestic oil and gas production, increasing the efficiency of the vehicles we drive, and investing in advanced technologies and alternative fuels. While there is no quick fix for the problem of high gas prices, the President has taken steps to save families money at the pump, including signing Wall Street reforms to stop traders from unfairly manipulating the energy market, and establishing historic fuel economy standards that will nearly double the efficiency of the vehicles we drive, saving families $1.7 trillion at the pump and reducing oil consumption by 12 billion barrels.  We are also producing more oil at home than at any time in the last eight years, but with only 2% of the world’s proven oil reserves, drilling alone is not a solution.  We must have an all-of-the-above energy strategy that invests in new technologies and ends the $4 billion in annual subsidies to oil companies that are earning historic profits.  If you believe Congress should end these oil company subsidies once and for all, tell your elected officials that it’s time to put middle class families first, not the big oil companies.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
Saturday, March 17, 2012

Hi, everybody.  As I’m sure you’ve noticed over the past few weeks, the price at your local pump has been going up and up.  And because it’s an election year, so has the temperature of our political rhetoric.

What matters most to me right now is the impact that rising prices have on you.  When you’ve got to spend more on gas, you’ve got less to spend on everything else.  It makes things harder.  So I wanted to take a minute this weekend to explain what steps my Administration is taking when it comes to energy – most importantly, producing more of it while using less of it.

The truth is: the price of gas depends on a lot of factors that are often beyond our control.  Unrest in the Middle East can tighten global oil supply.  Growing nations like China or India adding cars to the road increases demand.  But one thing we should control is fraud and manipulation that can cause prices to spike even further.

For years, traders at financial firms were able to game the energy markets, distort the price of oil, and make big profits for themselves at your expense.  And they were able to do all that because of major gaps and loopholes in our regulations.  When I took office, we did something about it. 

The Wall Street reforms I signed into law are helping bring energy markets out of the shadows and under real oversight.  They’re strengthening our ability to go after fraud and to prevent traders from manipulating the market.  So it’s not just wrong, but dangerous that some in Congress want to roll back those protections and return to the days when companies like Enron could avoid regulation and reap enormous profits, no matter who it hurt. 

What’s more, at a time when big oil companies are making more money than ever before, we’re still giving them $4 billion of your tax dollars in subsidies every year.  Your member of Congress should be fighting for you.  Not for big financial firms.  Not for big oil companies. 

In the next few weeks, I expect Congress to vote on ending these subsidies.  And when they do, we’re going to put every single Member of Congress on record: They can either stand up for oil companies, or they can stand up for the American people.  They can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century, or they can place their bets on America’s future.   So make your voice heard.  Send your representative an email.  Give them a call.  Tell them to stand with you.

And tell them to be honest with you.  It’s easy to promise a quick fix when it comes to gas prices.  There just isn’t one.  Anyone who tells you otherwise – any career politician who promises some three-point plan for two-dollar gas – they’re not looking for a solution.  They’re just looking for your vote.  

If we’re truly going to make sure we’re not at the mercy of spikes in gas prices every year, the answer isn’t just to drill more – because we’re already drilling more.  Under my Administration, we’re producing more oil here at home than at any time in the last eight years, that’s a fact. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs to a record high, that’s a fact.  And we’ve opened millions of acres on land and offshore to develop more of our domestic resources. 

Those are the facts.  But we can’t just rely on drilling.  Not when we use more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but still only have 2 percent of the world’s known oil reserves.  If we don’t develop other sources of energy, and the technology to use less energy, we’ll continue to be dependent on foreign countries for our energy needs.  That’s why we’re pursuing an all-of-the-above strategy.  As we develop more oil and gas, we’re also developing wind and solar power; biofuels, and next-generation vehicles – and thousands of Americans have jobs right now because of it.  We need to keep making those investments – because I don’t want to see those jobs go to other countries.  I want to create even more of them right here in America.

And after three decades of inaction, we raised fuel economy standards so that by the middle of the next decade, our cars will average nearly 55 miles per gallon.  That’s nearly double what they get today.  That means you’ll only have to fill up every two weeks instead of every week.  And that will save the typical family more than $8,000 over the life of the car – just by using less gas.

Combined, these steps have helped put us on a path to greater energy independence.  Since I took office, America’s dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year.  In 2010, for the first time in 13 years, less than half the oil we used came from foreign countries.

We can do even better.  And we will.  But what we can’t do is keep being dependent on other countries for our energy needs.  In America we control our own destiny.   So that’s the choice we face – the past, or the future.  And America is what it is today because we have always placed our bets on the future.  Thanks, and have a great weekend.

President Obama Signs West Virginia Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of West Virginia and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by several storms, tornados, flooding, mudslides, and landslides during the period of February 29 to March 5, 2012.
 
The President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Lincoln, Marion, and Wayne.
 
Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.
 
Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair of replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, tornadoes, flooding, mudslides, and landslides in the counties of Doddridge, Harrison, Lincoln, Marion, Mingo, Monongalia, Preston, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, and Wayne.
 
Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
 
W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Deanne Criswell as the Federal Coordinating Officer for the federal recovery operations in the affected area.
 
FEMA said additional designations may be made as a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.
 
FEMA said that residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties can begin applying for assistance tomorrow by registering online at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired.  The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Mark L. Asquino – Ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Department of State
• Derek H. Chollet – Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense
• Kathleen H. Hicks – Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Department of Defense
• Susanna Loeb - Member, Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences

President Obama said, “I am proud to nominate such impressive men and women to these important roles, and I am grateful they have agreed to lend their considerable talents to this Administration.  I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Mark L. Asquino, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Department of State
Mark L. Asquino, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, currently serves as the Executive Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights at the U.S. Department of State.  From 2010 to 2011, he served as a Senior Public Diplomacy Fellow at George Washington University.  Previously, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Sudan and at the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan.   Mr. Asquino has also served overseas in Caracas, Panama City, Madrid, Bucharest, Santiago, and Tashkent.  In Washington, he has served as the Principal Deputy Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the U.S. Department of State.  Mr. Asquino received his A.B. and Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University.

Derek H. Chollet, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense
Derek H. Chollet is the Senior Director for Strategic Planning for the National Security Staff at the White House.  From 2009 to 2011, he was Principal Deputy Director in the Office of Policy Planning at the Department of State.  Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Chollet was a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (2007-2009), a Nonresident Fellow at the Global Economy and Development Program at Brookings Institution (2006-2009), Adjunct Associate Professor for the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University (2006-2009), and a Fellow for the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (2005-2007).  From 1999 to 2001, he served as Chief Speechwriter for the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke and Special Adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Chollet worked as a research assistant for Warren Christopher (1997-1999), Richard Holbrooke (1997-1998), and James A. Baker III (1993-1995).  Mr. Chollet holds a B.A. from Cornell University.

Dr. Kathleen H. Hicks, Nominee for Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Department of Defense
Dr. Kathleen H. Hicks currently serves as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces.  Previously, from 2006 to 2009, she was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  Before joining CSIS, from 1993 to 2006, Dr. Hicks served in a variety of career civil service positions within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense.  These roles included Director for Policy Planning and Director for Homeland Defense Strategic Planning and Program Integration.  Dr. Hicks holds an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College, an M.P.A. from the University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Susanna Loeb, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences
Dr. Susanna Loeb is a professor of education and Director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University.  She also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Director of the Institute for Research on Education Policy and Practice, and Co-Director of Policy Analysis for California Education.  In addition to her work at Stanford, Dr. Loeb is currently a policy council member with the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, co-editor of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and a Faculty Research Fellow with the National Bureau of Economic Research.  From 2010 to 2011, Dr. Loeb served as President of the Association for Education Finance and Policy.  She previously served as a member of the National Research Council Committee on Test-Based Accountability and the Council Committee on Evaluation of the Impact of Teacher Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.  Dr. Loeb received a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University, and an M.P.P. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

President Obama to Travel to Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio to Highlight American Made Energy

WASHINGTON, DC – On March 21-22, President Obama will travel to Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio to highlight his Administration’s all of the above energy strategy, including his focus on continuing to expand responsible oil and gas development, increasing the fuel economy of the vehicles we drive which will save families money at the pump, supporting renewable energy sources, and investing in infrastructure and research and development, all of which play a central role in increasing our nation’s energy security. 

On Wednesday, the President will begin the tour in Boulder City, Nevada where he will visit the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility, the largest photovoltaic plant operating in the country with nearly one million solar panels powering 17,000 homes. In Boulder City, he will highlight his Administration’s focus on diversifying our energy portfolio, including expanding renewable energy from sources like wind and solar, which thanks in part to investments made by this Administration is set to double in the President’s first term. The President will then travel to oil and gas production fields located on federal lands outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico, an area home to more than seventy active drilling rigs. While in Carlsbad, the President will highlight the Administration’s commitment to expanding domestic oil and gas production, which has increased each year he has been in office, with domestic oil production currently at an eight year high and domestic natural gas production at an all-time high.

On Thursday, the President will travel to the Cushing, Oklahoma area to discuss his Administration’s commitment to improving and supporting the infrastructure that helps us leverage our domestic resources, while also ensuring these projects are developed in a safe and responsible way. This includes a pipeline that will transport oil from Cushing to the Gulf of Mexico, which will help address the bottleneck of oil that has resulted in large part from increased domestic oil production in the Midwest. In Oklahoma, the President will deliver remarks at a storage yard holding pipes that will be used for the construction of the pipeline. The final stop on the trip will take place at Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio, home to some of the country’s most advanced energy-related research and development.

Additional details about President Obama’s trip will be released as they become available.