Almost every day I hear from Inland Empire residents who are affected by skyrocketing gasoline prices.  We drive a lot in this region -- commuting to work, shopping or going for family outings.  Every time the cost of a gallon of gas goes up, we feel it. Area businesses are also burdened by higher gas prices, which make the shipment and delivery of goods more expensive.  Police and fire departments are spending more to fill up their vehicles, and school districts must pay more to fuel their buses.

 

This week the national average price at the pump was $2.92 per gallon – that’s 99 cents more than a year ago.  (Although the price has risen 30 cents after Hurricane Katrina, it’s clear the increase is mainly due to other factors.)

 

In our area, some gas stations are charging as much as $3.29 for a gallon of regular.

 

Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have missed an opportunity to come to the rescue of Americans fed up with paying more at the pump.

 

Instead of passing sound legislation that would help protect American consumers from price gouging and rising prices, Republicans supported an energy bill that serves only to help the oil companies, including letting the refinery industry get away with boosting gas prices by 71 cents per gallon.

 

They shamefully took advantage of Hurricane Katrina to push a special interest agenda at the expense of the American people.

 

And more outrageously, they did so by abusing their power and violating House rules by extending a 5-minute vote for more than 40 minutes after they lost!

 

They used the additional time to twist arms and put pressure on a couple of Republicans who originally opposed the legislation but were persuaded (with who knows what kind of threats and incentives) to change their votes.  The bill then passed by a 212 to 210 margin with Democrats united in opposition.

 

Tom DeLay, the Republican Leader who is under criminal indictment, led the effort to push through the legislation.

 

Democrats supported an alternative that would have helped American families, consumers and taxpayers.

 

We wanted to strengthen the enforcement of anti-gouging regulations and toughen penalties by making violators pay up to triple damages.  The funds collected would have been used to help low income families pay for the energy needed to heat their homes this winter. 

 

The Department of Energy is predicting that some families’ heating bills will rise as much as 77 percent over last year’s costs.  Families are expected to spend nearly three times as much for home heating oil than they did four years ago.

 

Democrats unanimously favored helping poor and vulnerable families, while Republicans sided with greedy oil companies already reaping record profits.

 

According to legend, the Roman emperor Nero fiddled, while the city burned.

 

Republicans in Congress might not have fiddled, but they have added fuel to the fire instead of extinguishing the flames.

 

I am disappointed that they stopped us from helping American families who are burdened with higher gasoline and fuel costs.

 

And I am angered that they used unfair tactics to get their way.

 

For weeks, we have demanded a new federal law to crack down on price gouging because we care about consumers who are being cheated every time they fill up their cars or turn up their thermostat

 

I will continue to support measures that would help prevent rising energy costs and price gouging and thus make a real difference for the residents of the Inland Empire.

 

For example, I am working on legislation that would help school districts in our region and across America severely impacted by unexpectedly high energy costs.  Many schools have already exhausted their budget for transporting children to school because it has become too expensive to fill up the tanks of school buses.