[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13420]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      DEMOCRATS TAKE ACTION ON RECORD HIGH GAS PRICES AT THE PUMP

  (Mr. ARCURI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ARCURI. Mr. Speaker, the American people are looking to 
Washington for help in reducing prices at the pump. They don't really 
have a lot of interest in pointing fingers; they just want us to act in 
a bipartisan fashion to bring these record prices down. But of course 
that hasn't stopped the oil company executives from pointing fingers, 
and of course that is what they do. That is all they can do. Anything 
but let the American people see where the real fault is, with the oil 
companies.
  Last month, nonetheless, Congress acted in a strong bipartisan 
fashion to pressure the administration to temporarily suspend the 
filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which experts agree will 
help drive down gasoline prices. This bipartisan House also overrode 
the Presidential veto on the new farm bill that makes an historic 
commitment to more affordable home-grown American biofuel and increased 
the oversight of commodity futures in order to detect and prevent 
market manipulation of energy prices.
  Mr. Speaker, as this House prepares to debate more energy legislation 
this week, I hope we can work together to provide some relief at the 
pump.

                          ____________________