[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 26 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SKYROCKETING FUEL PRICES

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, fuel prices are skyrocketing through the 
roof while Congress and the administration sit and twiddle their thumbs 
mumbling platitudes about waiting for the free market to work. I have 
got a news flash for the President, the Secretary of Energy and my 
colleagues that do not want to do anything.
  There is no free market in oil. The huge oil conglomerates secretly 
conspire against consumers to drive up oil prices and the OPEC 
countries openly collude to reduce production and create an artificial 
shortage. The Justice Department should vigorously investigate and 
prosecute the price fixing and anticompetitive actions by the major oil 
companies. And the President as a big supporter of the WTO and rules-
based trade should file a complaint against the OPEC nations.
  The WTO charter, article 11, says that they cannot do this. They 
cannot artificially depress production. We should file a complaint and 
collect hundreds of millions of dollars in damages levied through the 
WTO organization. If the administration is willing to use the full 
force and credibility of the Government on behalf of a single banana 
exporter with no export production in the United States, then they 
should certainly act on behalf of U.S. consumers who are being gouged 
by OPEC and other oil-producing nations.

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