Mike Pence: “The pain at the pump is real. In this, the most difficult economy in the last 25 years, my constituents have gas prices…”

“The pain at the pump is real. In this, the most difficult economy in the last 25 years, my constituents have gas prices on their mind, and with due cause: $4.18 a gallon average back in the Hoosier State, higher than the national average, gas prices have climbed more than $1 over the last year. And, frankly, with the summer travel season upon us and with the rising treacherous waters in the Mississippi threatening our refinery capability, we could see $5 a gallon gasoline in the near future. It is time to give the American people more access to American oil. Starting last week and this week, this majority in Congress will continue to move legislation that opens up our own domestic energy reserves in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore to the American people. The answer to the pain at the pump is energy independence. Part of that answer is by giving the American people more access to our own domestic reserves. I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting measures on the floor this week and last week and lead us toward that lodestar of energy independence and relieve the pain at the pump once and for all. ____________________”