Tom Price: “tomorrow is April 15, an important day. It is tax day. Today, millions of Americans are in the process of filing their…”

“tomorrow is April 15, an important day. It is tax day. Today, millions of Americans are in the process of filing their taxes. When all is said and done, many will get a refund from Uncle Sam. Hopefully, these refunds will not be needed to pay to fill up their gas tank. At every town hall meeting I have held, the price of gasoline has been a significant issue. Last weekend when I was at home in my district, I saw gas costing $2.15 and $2.24 and even higher per gallon. The prices do not seem to be coming down any time soon. If we had a comprehensive energy plan in place, we might not have seen these massive price increases. The time to act is now. What are the facts? Well, since 2001, the average price of gasoline increased 86 percent, from $1.23 to $2.29 a gallon. U.S. imports of oil over that period of time have increased by more than 10 percent, and the price of a barrel of oil has more than doubled from just over $23 to over $50 a barrel today. Many remember the early 1970s when we sat in lines to get our gasoline, and those lines often stretched for blocks and blocks. That gave us a lot of time to think, and most of us vowed that our Nation should never be dependent on foreign oil again. Today, however, the sad truth is we are actually more dependent on foreign oil than we were then. So, as tax day arrives, let us be certain that we adopt an energy policy so comprehensive that future tax refunds will do more than just get spent on a tank of gas.…”