[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 50 (Tuesday, May 2, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H1953]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PRICE OF GASOLINE

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the price of gasoline is $3 a gallon. Americans 
want answers, and they want solutions. According to the American 
Petroleum Institute, the nationwide average of tax on gasoline is 45 
cents a gallon. This is split between State and Federal governments. 
The oil companies make about 9 cents a gallon on gasoline, so 
Washington, D.C., makes more off a gallon of gasoline than the oil 
companies.
  Congress should consider suspending part of the gasoline tax for a 
period of time to lower gasoline prices. Gasoline prices are going up 
because OPEC controls 50 percent of the world's crude and is driving up 
the price of gasoline. The U.S. needs to be drilling offshore. Now we 
only drill off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama. There is 
crude out there in our gulf coast and east coast and even the sacred 
west coast.
  We can't have it both ways: Refuse to drill offshore and have cheaper 
gasoline prices. It is not going to work. We can drill safely offshore, 
and we need to do so to prevent being held hostage by third-world 
countries. Mr. Speaker, that's just the way it is.

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