"We need both short-term measures to protect consumers and businesses from skyrocketing prices at the pump, and longer-term proposals to reduce our reliance on foreign oil and promote alternative technologies." said DeFazio. "Unfortunately, the energy bill delivered by Congress does nothing to protect consumers in the short-term and does next-to-nothing to solve our long-term energy challenges.

"According to the Bush administration's own projections, the so-called energy policy just signed into law by the president will raise prices at the pump for American consumers and will increase our dependence on foreign oil over the next 20 years. It will do nothing to increase fuel efficiency in cars and trucks to decrease our reliance on foreign oil. It will not provide significant funding for alternative fuel research or the development of alternative or transitional technologies to move us to energy self-sufficiency. Even worse, it provides billions of dollars in taxpayer- funded subsidies to oil companies at a time when ExxonMobil just recorded the third largest corporate profits in history. With gas at $2.60 a gallon, record profits and billions in cash reserves, the oil companies are going to gouge consumers twice - once at the pump and again when they pay their taxes."

The DeFazio legislation includes several short-term and long-term proposals to protect consumers and to reduce our reliance on foreign sources of oil:

1) Imposes a windfall profits tax on oil companies to decrease the incentive to gouge consumers;

2) Authorizes the President to stabilize oil and gas prices by imposing price caps or other mechanisms in response to market manipulation;

3) Urges the President to file a trade complaint with the WTO against OPEC for illegally colluding to raise oil prices, which violates global trade rules;

4) Puts a moratorium on oil company mergers (the non-partisan General Accounting Office reported 2,600 mergers in the U.S. petroleum industry since the mid-1990s - by one measure, four companies control 74 percent of the gasoline market in Oregon). It also creates a commission to investigate the impact mergers are having on prices and to make recommendations to restore competition in the petroleum industry;

5) Requires minimum inventory levels to smooth out supply disruptions. This is similar to the requirement that public utility commissions place on electric utilities to have enough reserve capacity to keep the lights on in the event of a spike in demand. By requiring a certain level of reserves, my legislation would provide a cushion against unexpected drops in supply and increases in prices;

6) Authorizes the use of the strategic petroleum reserve (a federal reserve of 700 million barrels of oil), as needed, to combat market manipulation and supply problems. Releasing oil from the federal stockpile will help ensure that supply disruptions (whether artificial or real) don't lead to price spikes;

7) Reinstates the ban on exporting oil from Alaska;

8) Mandates increased fuel efficiency standards for cars (at least 45 miles per gallon after 2014) and trucks (at least 34 mpg by 2014); and

9) Provides tax credits for the purchase of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles in order to help stimulate supply and demand.