WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today took to the Senate floor to speak in favor of decreasing America’s dependence on OPEC imports by increasing domestic oil production. Murkowski made her comments during debate over legislation offered by Democrats to increase taxes on American oil producers by about $2 billion a year. The full text of her speech is below.

“The opposite is true of the bill before us today. What the President and Democratic leadership are proposing cannot, by definition, reduce gas prices. If anything, it would push them higher. My constituents back home just can’t afford to see gas prices go any higher when they’re already paying above $5 and $6 a gallon. We know from basic economics that taxing something does not make it cheaper or more abundant. And we know from past experience – due to a failed experiment with a windfall profits tax that harmed domestic oil production and collected far fewer revenues than expected – that this is a bad idea.

“Again, our problem is high fuel prices and their effect on average Americans. I have yet to hear anyone explain how raising taxes will lower those prices. Even looking at the subsidies extended here, I see a couple of small provisions related to biofuels and one for infrastructure – that’s the extent of anything related to transportation fuels. So I’m left at a loss to understand how permanent tax increases for oil and gas producers, in exchange for another year of subsidies for efficient appliances and renewable energy, will make any meaningful difference. It says to the American people: well, too bad about $4 gasoline – but how about a government-subsidized dishwasher that doesn’t work as well?

“Some will also come here to argue this will have no effect on production. To respond to that, I want to submit two news stories from last week to the record. These are news articles, not editorials. One is from Platt’s, the other from The Wall Street Journal. Both detail an announcement from the British government that it will reverse its own tax increase on oil companies. Last year, England decided to do essentially what is being proposed here – to react to high oil prices by raising taxes on the industry. The result shouldn’t surprise anyone. When the government made it less economical to produce oil by hiking taxes, companies stopped producing and made their investments elsewhere. In the year since Great Britain imposed its tax hikes, its production decline has tripled from 6 percent to 18 percent.

“Let me repeat that. In the year since Great Britain imposed tax increases on oil producers, production declines accelerated from 6 percent a year to 18 percent a year. And now, Britain is in the process of doing an about face, and will likely offer $5.5 billion in tax relief to oil companies to try to bring production back. I’m sure some of my colleagues would refer to that tax cut as a subsidy, and ignore the inconvenient fact that higher taxes lead to lower production – not cheaper fuel.

“And yet, even in the face of high fuel prices and compelling empirical evidence, the proposal in front of us would take us down the same path as Great Britain. It would make the clear mistake of driving production away when we need it most. The outcome in England helps prove that this is a seriously defective idea and frankly a dangerous one. Just look at the evidence.

“If the Senate was serious about addressing gasoline prices, we would be taking long-overdue steps to increase domestic oil production and supply from Canada – as our colleagues in the House have. That’s not the only solution; it is one solution and something Congress can actually influence. Our current policies artificially limit supply from Alaska, from the Outer Continental Shelf, and from the Rocky Mountain West. We still import half of our oil supply, and about half of that is from OPEC. The end result is that we pay several hundred billion dollars a year to import oil into our country. I cannot fathom why Congress would react to that tremendous drain on our economy by raising taxes on the very businesses that help minimize our foreign dependence .”