Ed Markey: “The reason that the gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel] has framed this recommittal motion is that the American…”

“The reason that the gentleman from New York [Mr. Rangel] has framed this recommittal motion is that the American consumer has seen in the last 3 or 4 months an increase of 20 cents to 40 cents at the gas pump for the price of gasoline. Now, that means that oil companies are taking from $100 to $200 more this year out of the pockets of consumers for gasoline than they did last year. The Republican motion says that the 4 cent gasoline tax from 1993, which is their idea of relief for the consumer who is losing 100 to 200 bucks, they are going to get this 4 cent break, which is about 15 or 20 bucks, should go to the oil refinery level. That is where the bulk of their tax break goes. They give it to the oil refiners, largely, and they ask them to pass it on to the consumer. The gentleman from New York says, well, if that is how they are going to do it, we need that to be certified, we need to have some evidence that the large oil companies pass that tax break on down to the consumer.”