Welch calls Bush ‘out of touch’ on gas prices PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 28 April 2008 19:00

Washington, DC - Rep. Peter Welch (VT-AL) says President Bush remains "hopelessly out of touch" with consumers facing the burden of skyrocketing gas prices.

President Bush today reaffirmed his opposition to suspending oil purchases at record high prices to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), an initiative Welch is leading in the U.S. House to quickly lower prices at the gas pump. Welch is also the lead sponsor of The Close the Enron Loophole Act, legislation that would restore regulation of energy markets to end price manipulation and excessive speculation by energy traders.

Gas prices are up over 140 percent since President Bush took office.

"President Bush remains hopelessly out of touch with the pain consumers are feeling at the pump," said Welch. "Congress needs to take immediate steps to ease the financial burden facing Vermonters. It can start by suspending shipments to top-off our oil reserves and closing the Enron Loophole."

Welch added, "The president's only answer to high gas prices and record oil profits is to cling to the same misguided, drill-our-way-out energy policy he's blindly championed over the last seven years."

Welch first called on President Bush to suspend shipments to the SPR on February 8 with Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Rep. Ron Kind. At that time, Welch also introduced legislation to compel the president to stop shipments to top off the SPR if the president failed to act. This short-term action could save consumers as much as 24 cents per gallon, according to an independent study by Goldman Sachs.

Welch's bill, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fill Suspension and Consumer Protection Act of 2008, H.R. 5473, requires the Secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) to suspend shipments to the SPR in 2008, or until the average price of crude oil falls below $50 a barrel.

"By continuing to top off our oil reserve, the public is being hit twice. Tax dollars are being used to pay record high prices and at the same time actually driving up prices even more."

Welch has also voted for and the U.S. House has passed legislation to reverse tax cuts for big oil companies to fund renewable energy and efficiency programs.

For more information on Welch's SPR initiative click here.

Current co-sponsors: Peter Welch, Edward Markey, John Yarmuth, Rahm Emanuel, William Delahunt, Tim Walz, Mike McIntyre, Robert Wexler, Barney Frank, Charlie Wilson, John Barrow, Christopher Murphy, Maurice Hinchey, Paul Hodes, Gabrielle Giffords, Jim McGovern, Carol Shea-Porter, Bruce Braley, Lois Capps, Baron Hill, Andre Carson, Niki Tsongas, Jan Schakowsky, Henry Waxman, Mark Udall, Joe Courtney, Bill Foster, Sander Levin, Brad Ellsworth, Patrick Kennedy, Steve Kagen and John Olver, Dave Loebsack, Heath Shuler, Jason Altmire, John Hall, John Sarbanes, Michael Arcuri, Patrick Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Eliot Engel, Joe Donnelly, Tim Ryan, Edolphus Towns, Jim Moran, Mike Doyle, Betty Sutton, Mike Honda, James Langevin, Jay Inslee, Chaka Fattah, Rosa DeLauro, John Larson, Bark Stupak, Linda Sanchez, Roscoe Bartlett, Tom Allen, John Lewis, Ron Kind, Silvestre Reyes, Brian Higgins, James Oberstar, Neil Abercrombie, Phil Hare, Anna Eshoo, Louise Slaughter, and Michael Michaud.

 
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