Dick Durbin: “There are two fundamentally different approaches when it comes to America's energy futures between the Democratic side…”

“There are two fundamentally different approaches when it comes to America's energy futures between the Democratic side and the Republican side. The Democratic side believes that first we have to do everything we can to protect consumers of America from price gouging. We know what is happening. We cannot go to Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky, or Colorado and not run into people saying we cannot understand why gasoline prices are so high. We know the price of a barrel of oil has gone up to record high levels because of price manipulation by the Saudis, OPEC, and other countries, and the Republican approach to this totally ignores it. We know the oil companies across the United States last week reported record profits in the first quarter of this year. Since President Bush came to office, the profits of the oil companies have more than quadrupled and the price of gasoline has more than doubled. Does the Republican approach even address this? The answer is no. We have, in the Democratic approach, a windfall profits tax, which says to these oil companies: There is a limit beyond which you cannot go in gouging consumers and overcharging them for your products.”