[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5995]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                BIG OIL

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Madam Speaker, the presumptive Republican nominee for 
president, John McCain, has a solution to skyrocketing gas prices.
  Is he going to take on Big Oil, their price gouging, and their 
obscene profits? No. Is he going to take on OPEC and their collusion to 
restrict supply and drive up the price in violation of international 
trade law? No.
  Is he going to take on the hedge fund speculators on Wall Street that 
are driving up the price unnecessarily 50 cents a gallon so then they 
can make money? No.
  He is going to be the GOP nominee, the Grand Oil Party nominee. He 
can't take that money. He has a solution. Suspend the Federal gas tax.
  In 1993, the Federal gas tax was 18.3 cents and a gallon of gas was a 
buck. In 2008, a gallon of gas is $3.50. The Federal gas tax is the 
same 18.3 cents. It's dropped to 5 percent of the cost.
  If we follow his plan, we will cancel hundreds of needed bridge 
projects and highway projects across the country, throwing construction 
workers out of jobs, an already hard-hit sector, or maybe he is just 
going to borrow the money after he cancels the gas tax, because the 
only thing going up faster on the Republican administration than the 
price of gas is the national debt.

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