To express the sense of the Senate that all forms of unrefined and unprocessed petroleum should be subject to the nominal per-barrel excise tax associated with the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

SA 123. Ms. MURKOWSKI submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 2 proposed by Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. Hoeven,
Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Risch, Mr. Lee, Mr. Flake, Mr. Daines, Mr. Manchin,
Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Portman, Mr. Alexander, and Mrs. Capito)
to the bill S. 1, to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. SENSE OF SENATE REGARDING THE OIL SPILL LIABILITY
TRUST FUND.

It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) Congress should approve a bill to ensure that all forms
of bitumen or synthetic crude oil derived from bitumen are
subject to the per-barrel excise tax associated with the Oil
Spill Liability Trust Fund established by section 9509 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
(2) it is necessary for Congress to approve a bill
described in paragraph (1) because the Internal Revenue
Service determined in 2011 that certain forms of petroleum
are not subject to the per-barrel excise tax;
(3) under article I, section 7, clause 1 of the
Constitution, the Senate may not originate a bill to raise
new revenue, and thus may not originate a bill to close the
legitimate and unintended loophole described in paragraph
(2);
(4) if the Senate attempts to originate a bill described in
paragraph (1), it would provide a substantive basis for a
``blue slip'' from the House of Representatives, which would
prevent advancement of the bill; and
(5) the House of Representatives, consistent with article
I, section 7, clause 1 of the Constitution, should consider
and refer to the Senate a bill to ensure that all forms of
bitumen or synthetic crude oil derived from bitumen are
subject to the per-barrel excise tax associated with the Oil
Spill Liability Trust Fund established by section 9509 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
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