(Washington, D.C.) U.S. Rep. Mike Ross (AR-04), a member of the
House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Energy Subcommittee, Tuesday
responded to President Bush’s call for a federal investigation into price
gouging at the pumps and for the suspension of deliveries to the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
“The President’s new energy plan is nothing new. It is simply
filled with ideas that I proposed eight months ago.
“Last August and September, I called on the President to suspend deliveries
to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and introduced legislation to
direct the Federal Trade Commission to conduct an investigation into price
gouging.
“It has taken the President nearly eight months to recognize we have
a major problem at America’s gas pumps and to make an effort to provide
much needed relief to America’s working and farm families. Perhaps
if the President had understood the severity of skyrocketing gas prices
last September, heeded my call to temporarily suspend deliveries to the
SPR, and had his Republican-led Congress allowed a vote on my bill for
a FTC investigation into price gouging, we would not be faced with $3 per
gallon gasoline today and few farm families would have gone out of business.
“The suspension of deliveries to the SPR will provide an immediate,
short term fix for today’s escalating gas prices, which is why I called
for the President to do this last August. We must also develop a
long term plan that invests in renewable and alternative energy sources
which will ultimately reduce our dependence on foreign oil. This
is why I am co-sponsoring H.R. 1398, legislation that mandates ten percent
ethanol in all gas and five percent biodiesel in all diesel by the year
2010. Increasing the amount of ethanol and biodiesel in our domestic
fuel will allow the United States to not only become less dependent on
foreign oil, but will also provide a new market for our farm families and
reduce the price we pay at the pump by as much as 70 cents a gallon.
“Unfortunately, the President’s push for an investigation into price
gouging and the suspension of deliveries to the SPR may be too little,
too late. Farm families throughout America have gone out of business
over the last eight months. Many of Arkansas’s working families commute
long distances each day to work and are feeling their wallets tighten as
they face record breaking prices at the pump.”
Although the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which Ross helped write as a
member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, directs the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct an investigation into price gouging,
there is no definitive timeline mandated by the legislation. Last
September, Ross introduced H.R. 3718, which would have established a timeline
for the FTC to conduct an investigation to determine if the price of gasoline
had been artificially manipulated. Ross is also a co-sponsor of H.
Res. 299, legislation which would require the President to temporarily
suspend acquisitions to the SPR.
In 2000, when President Clinton suspended deliveries to the SPR, it
brought down gasoline prices by 14 cents per gallon and crude oil prices
by $6 per barrel. In 1991, when President Bush authorized the release
of oil from the SPR, it brought crude oil prices down $11 per barrel. |