[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2936]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               OIL PRICES

 Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, in April 2004, when American 
consumers were paying $1.78 per gallon at the pump, I warned that 
energy experts were ``predicting that the price of gas may rise to 
$2.50 or $3.00 per gallon.'' The administration did nothing. Last 
October, when American consumers were paying $2.87 per gallon at the 
pump, I warned that ``oil may be on its way to over $100 a barrel.'' 
The administration did nothing.
  This week, oil reached a record $102 a barrel, and gas prices 
averaged $3.13 a gallon. How much will families in Vermont and across 
America have to pay to heat their homes in this long winter and drive 
to work before the President takes action? At a news conference 
yesterday, the President was not even aware that some are predicting 
that gas prices will hit $3.50 or even $4 a gallon by the spring.
  Two facts are painfully clear: Gasoline prices have more than doubled 
since the President took office, and the President has no plan to 
protect consumers and our economy.
  I have said this before, and I say it again today: The principal 
cause of the relentless increase in oil prices is not a natural supply 
issue, but market manipulation by the Organization of Petroleum 
Exporting Countries, OPEC, an international cartel that limits the 
supply of oil to keep fuel prices high. In January, the President's 
best attempt to increase the supply of oil was to tell Saudi King 
Abdullah that ``paying more for gasoline hurts some American 
families.'' Indeed it does, and I am pleased the administration 
acknowledges the effects of rising gas prices on Americans. But Saudi 
Arabia is a founding member of OPEC, which has every incentive to limit 
output and keep prices artificially high. The futility of going to an 
OPEC member and pleading for it to raise output is obvious; the 
President's request that it increase supply is simply bewildering.
  OPEC is scheduled to meet next week to consider output levels. If 
such a meeting took place in almost any other context, the participants 
would likely be arrested for an illegal conspiracy in restraint of 
trade. Yet the President stood in front of the King of the largest 
participant in the oil cartel and asked for relief, instead of 
demanding an end to this illegal activity.
  If the administration truly acknowledges the impact artificially high 
oil prices have on our Nation, it should join with me, Senator Kohl, 
and the 68 other Senators and 345 Members of the House of 
Representatives who have voted for NOPEC legislation, which would hold 
accountable certain oil-producing nations for their collusive behavior 
that has artificially reduced the supply and inflated the price of 
fuel.
  Instead of pleading for help, the next time the President of the 
United States meets with members of a cartel, the President should 
explain that entities engaging in anticompetitive conduct that harms 
American consumers can expect investigation and prosecution.
  We cannot claim to be energy independent while we permit foreign 
governments to manipulate oil prices in an anticompetitive manner. It 
is wrong to let members of OPEC off the hook just because their 
anticompetitive practices come with the seal of approval of national 
governments.

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