‘By failing to address supply even with gas prices at $4 a gallon, Congressional Democrats are telling the American people that $4 a gallon gasoline is acceptable, that they should get used to it.’



Washington, D.C.— U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Friday regarding the need to act to reduce the rising price at the pump:



“There’s no doubt the subprime mortgage crisis is a timely and important issue, and it’s a worthy topic for the Senate to have taken up. There’s also little doubt, however, that the single most important issue facing Americans at the moment is the high price of gas at the pump.



“Indeed, it would be difficult to find a single American who’s escaped the painful effects of the recent record spike in gas prices — and who isn’t eager for Congress to do something about it.



“That’s why I was so concerned to hear the Democratic nominee for President say last week that he wasn’t as concerned about high gas prices as he was about the fact that they rose so quickly. He would have preferred a ‘gradual adjustment,’ as he put it, to the sudden shock that we all got.



“More concerning, not a single Democrat in the U.S. Senate has come forward to distance himself or herself publicly from his words.



“The message of the Junior Senator from Illinois was clear: high gas prices don’t concern him as much as they concern most people. And by allowing his comments to stand, Congressional Democrats are being equally clear: they agree with him.



“The fact is, on the issue of lowering gas prices, Congressional Democrats have little to say. There’s a common-sense response, and that’s to increase supply here at home in a limited, environmentally-responsible way.



“America floats on top of an ocean of untapped oil reserves three times the size of Saudi Arabia’s. As an immediate response to high gas prices, common sense dictates that we should be moving immediately to increase our own massive domestic supplies and add American jobs in the process. In the short term, there’s only one answer to high gas prices, and that’s more American energy now.



“Looking ahead, there is no doubt that something also needs to be done about demand.



“But while Congressional Republicans have a solution to the problem, our friends on the other side have shown a stubborn unwillingness over the years to do much at all about increasing domestic supply. And the result of yesterday’s inaction is the strain that American families are feeling today in the form of record high gas prices.



“By failing to address supply even with gas prices at $4 a gallon, Congressional Democrats are telling the American people that $4 a gallon gasoline is acceptable, that they should get used to it. Well, Kentuckians aren’t interested in getting used to $4 a gallon gasoline, and neither am I.



“Congress has the power to do something about high gas prices, and we should. Americans are looking to Washington for action. What they’re getting instead from Democrats in Congress is a lecture on ‘gradual adjustments.’ Americans don’t need a lecture. They need relief.



“While Americans grow increasingly frustrated with gas prices, Democrats in the House of Representatives are showing where their priorities lie. Among other legislative business this week, they scheduled a vote on whether to ban the interstate sale of monkeys. House Democrats also recently took up resolutions commemorating ‘National Plumbing Industry Week’ and the ‘International Year of Sanitation.’



“These resolutions were important, no doubt, to some. Yet none of them will do anything to lower gas prices.



“Americans frustrated about high gas prices are wondering why Democrats in Congress are talking about the Monkey trade. And I don’t blame them.



“It’s time Democrats took the issue of high gas prices as seriously as the American people do. It’s time Democrats in Congress join with Republicans and get serious about lowering $4 a gallon gas and lessening our reliance on Middle East oil.”



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