[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   RECORD HIGH GAS PRICES AT THE PUMP

  (Mr. WALZ of Minnesota asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, over the last couple months, 
House Democrats have been working with real solutions to lower pump 
prices for the American people, smart legislation that invests in 
renewable energy and temporarily halted the sending of oil to the 
Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve.
  This week, we will continue with real solutions to give relief to 
people across this country. We will consider legislation today to 
prevent price gouging by unscrupulous companies. Later in the week, we 
plan to take up a bill that will tighten the Enron loophole that allows 
speculators in the dark markets in places like Dubai to drive up oil 
prices without having any oversight. Rampant speculation is estimated 
by most economists to be driving up oil $30 a barrel.
  And on Thursday, the House will consider legislation that tells Big 
Oil to either use it or lose it. This bill would bar oil companies from 
this fictionist red herring of saying they need more land. They have 68 
million acres of the public land that they are choosing not to drill on 
even though oil is under it. These bills deserve and need to have 
bipartisan support to truly help the American people.

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