Chuck Grassley: “yesterday afternoon I discussed the burden that high gas prices are having on all Americans, and not just on my…”

“yesterday afternoon I discussed the burden that high gas prices are having on all Americans, and not just on my constituents in Iowa but all over this great country. I think now that most of my colleagues in the House and Senate know that high gas prices mean less discretionary income for people--less discretionary income to spend at the mall, to spend at the farmers market, less discretionary income to buy ice cream on hot summer days, and less discretionary income to save for a rainy day. I can assume my Democratic colleagues know that actions that take discretionary income away from the American people are detrimental to those people and detrimental to the overall economy--detrimental to their way of life and detrimental to our country's future. I guess I don't have to assume folks on the other side know this. This body has been debating the issue of escalating oil prices and energy for the better part of this week. I heard countless accounts from my Democratic colleagues about how their constituents are hurting. So I think my friends on the other side get it. They get that taking the hard-earned dollars out of the pockets of their constituents is detrimental to those constituents. What my Democratic friends don't get is that raising taxes has the same effect. Raising taxes takes hard-earned dollars out of the pockets of their constituents. Don't folks on the other side think this is a problem?”