[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 28269]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            OPEC AND ENERGY DEPARTMENT DELIVER MORE BAD NEWS

  (Mrs. MALONEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, OPEC and the U.S. Energy Department 
delivered another blow to financially strained American consumers 
Monday when they announced that high energy prices are here to stay.
  During a meeting in Kuwait, OPEC members said they may cut production 
of oil, increasing prices here in the U.S. At the same time, U.S. 
Federal energy forecasters projected the current high gas prices will 
last until at least 2014. This news comes at a devastating time for 
millions of families currently struggling to pay mounting home heating 
costs.
  The onset of bitterly cold winter weather in New York City and across 
this Nation means that many people will have to make difficult 
sacrifices to afford these added expenses; and yet, Republican leaders 
in this body recently passed legislation that provides billions of 
dollars in financial assistance to energy companies, while cutting 
vital funds from LIHEAP, the low-income home heating assistance 
program.
  Mr. Speaker, this is unconscionable. We should be increasing the 
LIHEAP funding and assistance and spreading this to the needed families 
over this holiday season.

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