Chuck Grassley: “I rise to speak about the gouging of the American consumer, particularly high energy users and, probably most…”

“I rise to speak about the gouging of the American consumer, particularly high energy users and, probably most importantly, working Americans who are paying such high gasoline prices because of OPEC. I do this in the context of supporting a resolution Senator Ashcroft is offering the Senate. This is a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to communicate to the leaders of the OPEC nations and even non-OPEC cartel producers, prior to the next meeting of the OPEC nations in March, the importance of stabilizing crude oil prices. The soaring prices of diesel fuel and of gasoline have had an especially detrimental effect upon farmers and truckers whose livelihood is tied closely to the input costs. We in the Senate should not stand idly by while a foreign monopoly dictates our States' economic stability. Remember, if oil company CEOs were doing this sort of OPEC price fixing, they would be in prison for violating the antitrust laws.”