[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 60 (Thursday, May 5, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H3065]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REIN IN THE SPECULATION

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. American families and small businesses are being crushed 
by $4 a gallon gas at the pump.
  Now, the Republicans tell us, oh, it's plain old supply and demand; 
drill here now and fast in the future and that will solve the problem.
  Well, actually supply is up--U.S. crude inventories are 12.6 million 
barrels over the 5-year average--and demand is down. So what's really 
going on?
  Well, it's Big Oil and it's Wall Street. Goldman Sachs--no one less 
than Goldman Sachs--said that the culprit for inflating oil prices $20 
higher than what supply and demand dictate is excess speculation. Now, 
we wouldn't want to rein in the speculators because that's Wall Street 
and they're very generous to Republicans. And we wouldn't want to take 
on Big Oil, who's manipulating the market prices, because they 
contribute big-time to Republicans.
  So let's just play pretend. Let's pretend we're doing something for 
consumers while hiding the culprits in plain sight. Speculation on Wall 
Street. They traded 189,000 contracts--that's 189 million barrels--by 
computer in 1 day last week, driving up the price for all Americans. 
Useless speculation.
  Rein in the speculation. And take on Big Oil.

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