Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Big Oil Companies Dedicating Record Profits To Corporate Stock Buybacks After Benefitting From Americans Feeling The Pain At The Pump

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on Big Oil companies recording historic profits after charging Americans high prices at the pump last summer, calling out Big Oil for spending huge chunks of their profits on corporate stock buybacks while shortchanging investments in clean energy. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Last year, while soaring gas prices stretched the budgets of American families, Big Oil enjoyed a record year of profits. Huge amounts of money were made by these companies.

Earlier this week, Exxon reported a $56 billion — billion! — net profit in 2022, setting a record high not just for Exxon, but for Big Oil as an industry.

And Exxon wasn’t alone: Chevron also reported $35 billion. And while Americans were feeling the pain at the pump, driving their car up to the gas station and wondering how high it was going to be, the five top Big Oil companies brought in a record nearly $200 billion in total profits in 2022, taking advantage of what they called “favorable market” conditions.

It is nothing short of repugnant for the biggest oil companies in America to celebrate dizzying profit margins that they earned jacking up gas prices on hardworking Americans.   

And what did oil companies do with this tsunami of cash?

They could have prioritized paying their workers better. They did not.

They could have made transformative investments in new clean tech and help push the frontier in clean energy, which we all know is coming, but they did not.

Or maybe best of all, they could have lowered gas prices, but they did not!

You know what the oil companies did? This is just as galling, galling! They rewarded shareholders by implementing stock buybacks, at near record levels.

Buybacks do no good for the economy. They don't help the worker. They don't help the consumer. They don’t move us along to green energy. They don't even produce more oil. All they do is line the pockets of the already uber-wealthy executives and shareholders.

Here’s one example: Exxon announced they plan to spend $35 billion — $35 billion! —  on stock buybacks in the next two years, more than double their plans to invest in clean energy over the next five years. I want to say that again. For anyone who doesn't think corporate America is out of control and does whatever it wants and thumbs its nose at the needs of the globe, or the workers, or the citizens—Exxon announced they plan to spend $35 billion on stock buybacks in the next two years, more than double their plans to invest in clean energy over the next five years. That’s where Exxon’s priorities are.

So Big oil executives may claim they are good stewards, or that they understand the climate crisis, but when it comes time to put their money where their mouth is, their actions tell a different story.

We must continue to take on entrenched oil interests—just as we did last year when we passed the Inflation Reduction Act. Doing so will have a tremendous benefit for our economy, for our environment, and for American families everywhere.

We Democrats will continue to make one thing clear: if oil companies are going to make record profits, they must do it not by manipulating prices to take advantage of hardworking Americans.

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