Bob Filner: “I rise in support of the Inslee-Filner amendment. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Washington for raising this…”

“I rise in support of the Inslee-Filner amendment. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Washington for raising this issue. We are not trying to embarrass the Vice President of the United States; we are trying to embarrass the administration for not having an energy policy for this country. We are not arguing whether the taxpayer is going to have this bill one way or the other; we are arguing that the people in the West Coast are paying double and triple the prices they paid last year, and they have no help. The administration will not step in and do anything about their prices, will not do anything about the energy cartel that is doing this. The Vice President does not have to worry about that. He just asks for a shift of the accounts. We are not accusing the Vice President of being irresponsible; we are accusing the Vice President of being clueless. We have suffered for a year in San Diego, California, and the West Coast, with manipulated prices that have doubled and tripled what we were paying a year ago. Think of the small business person who is paying $700 or $800 a month, and, 60 days after deregulation, is paying $2,500 a month. I want the Vice President to think about the small business person who had to close his doors because he did not have anybody to take his bill up. And he conserves. I will accept your premise that the Vice President conserves. Our people conserved, and what happened?…”