[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11447]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
              CONGRESS NEEDS TO STOP THE PRICE GOUGING NOW

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I paid $3.43 a gallon for gas in 
Springfield, Oregon. My colleague Greg Walden paid $3.99 on the east 
side of the Cascades. Something a little fishy here because, a year ago 
today, oil prices were $66.85 a barrel. Today, they are $63 a barrel. 
The price of crude oil is down, but the price of gasoline at the pump 
is up, way up.
  And what is the cause? They say, oh, well, we forgot, we had to clean 
and maintain the refineries, and gee, we've had to shut 'em down. Does 
this remind anybody else of Enron? Enron/Exxon, they're 
interchangeable.
  Enron would shut down plants to drive up the cost of electricity and 
make wild profits. Exxon and the other big oil companies are doing the 
same thing. They're using refinery repairs and maintenance as an excuse 
to price-gouge the American people.
  Congress needs to stop the price gouging now.

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