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  For Immediate Release  
  Contact: Matt Bisbee  
  Phone: (217) 403-4690 / (217) 649-1754  
March 25, 2004
 
Rep. Johnson Asks President Bush for Help Easing Gasoline Prices
 

Energy Department can change policy on releasing oil reserves, give Americans a break at the pump

 

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson (IL-15) is calling on President Bush to reevaluate the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) policy on filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to help lower gasoline prices at the pump. As fuel prices in Illinois and around the country are nearing record highs, Rep. Johnson joined more than 50 of his Congressional colleagues in signing a letter asking the Bush Administration to address the issue.  In the letter, Rep. Johnson urged President Bush to, "suspend shipments of oil to the SPR and allow more oil to remain on the market and available to consumers when supplies are tight." 

"Prices at the pump are escalating at an alarming rate," Johnson said. "I hear from my constituents who are struggling with high gasoline prices. With our economy on the rebound, it is critical that we not allow rising gasoline prices to have a negative impact on the recovery."

Representing a predominantly rural district, Johnson is the lone Member from Illinois on the House Agriculture Committee.  The second-term Congressman alerted the President that high petroleum prices also have a negative impact on farming, "With the planting season around the corner, the record high fuel prices will really hit America's farmers hard."

Rep. Johnson and the other Members of Congress called on the President and the DOE to revert back to its previous policy of filling the SPR when crude oil prices are relatively low and deferring oil deliveries when prices are relatively high.  In the letter to the President, Johnson wrote, "Filling the SPR, without regard to crude oil prices and the availability of supplies drives oil prices higher and ultimately hurts consumers."

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