[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 74 (Friday, May 25, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H2716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONSUMERS NEED HELP WITH ENERGY COSTS AND THEY NEED IT NOW

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, each and every day all across America 
families are paying higher energy prices. In my State of Connecticut, a 
gallon of gas now goes for $1.82. In Illinois, the price has gone as 
high as $2.39.
  California citizens are being held hostage by out-of-state generators 
who have held down the production of energy in order to increase their 
own profits. In fact, if the price of milk had increased at the same 
rate as California's energy prices a gallon would cost $190. No family 
would accept such price gouging. Consumers need help with energy costs 
and they need it now.
  What does the President and the Republican leadership do today in the 
midst of this crisis? They are locked behind closed doors deciding how 
much of a tax cut to give to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, 
while working- and middle-class families spend more of their hard-
earned dollars on unfair gas and electricity prices.
  Republicans remain focused on passing a tax cut that does little for 
these families but lines the pocket of people making more than $300,000 
a year.
  The Vice President says the energy crisis is only an issue of supply 
and demand. His friends in the energy issue have the supply, and they 
are demanding an arm, a leg and family savings for it.

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