[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 44 (Thursday, April 1, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1794-H1795]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
           PRESIDENT BUSH SHOULD TAKE HIS OWN ADVICE TO HEART

  (Mr. MARKEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, the Bush administration refuses to jawbone 
or pressure OPEC to increase oil production while the American consumer 
at the gas pump is being tipped upside down and money is being shaken 
out of their pockets every single day. This is wrong. The President 
should jawbone OPEC to increase oil production, not to lower the 
production of oil.
  Here is what the President said to Bill Clinton 4 years ago. He said, 
``What I think President Clinton ought to do is to get on the phone 
with OPEC and to say we expect you to open your spigots. One reason why 
the price is so high is because the price of crude oil has been driven 
up. OPEC has gotten its supply act together and is driving up the price 
like it did in the past. And the President of the United States must 
jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.'' That is the advice George 
Bush as candidate gave to Bill Clinton.
  Now that he is President, he says he cannot jawbone OPEC, that it 
would be wrong; but the price is being paid by the consumer at the gas 
pump every single day.

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