[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11890]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     PRICE CONTROLS MAY BE NICE POLITICS BUT THEY ARE LOUSY POLICY

  (Mrs. BIGGERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, day in and day out I hear calls for price 
controls on electricity, and I wonder were the 1970s that long ago, or 
are we just suffering from convenient amnesia? Am I the only one who 
remembers the gas price controls imposed by President Richard Nixon in 
an effort to ensure an adequate supply of gasoline at reasonable rates? 
Am I the only one who remembers that the resulting artificial low 
prices did not lower consumption, but did lower supply?
  I guess I am the only one who does not look fondly back on the days 
of long lines at the local service station and gas rationing. Price 
controls may be nice politics, but they are lousy policy. The bottom 
line is that we are trying to meet today's energy needs with 
yesterday's energy infrastructure, and it is not working.
  Our energy demand has increased 47 percent over the last 30 years, 
and yet we have half as many oil refineries, static pipeline capacity 
and 20 times as many mandated gasoline blends. Low energy prices 
through the 1980s and 1990s have lulled American consumers and 
producers into believing that low prices will always be there, but now 
we know that is not true.

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