Barbara Mikulski: “I know we are considering the Defense appropriations bill, and we congratulate the leadership of the subcommittee of…”

“I know we are considering the Defense appropriations bill, and we congratulate the leadership of the subcommittee of which I am a proud member. Senators Stevens and Inouye have brought an excellent appropriations bill to the Senate. I rise about another security issue which is the high price of gasoline. I rise today to urge President Bush to convene a White House jawboning session of the American oil and gas companies to urge them to be good corporate citizens and lower the price of gasoline, home heating oil, and natural gas. I think it is swell the President is agreeing that conservation is an important goal. But it is very little and very late. Yes, we do need conservation. But wearing sweaters just will not be enough. The President needs to call on CEOs of the oil and gas companies to be patriots. It is time for the oil and gas company CEOs to be looking at the ways they can help the American people, not only their profits. These sky-high prices have created a crisis for American families and businesses--from families that must commute to work, to small businesses that deliver flowers, to truckers that deliver food, and watermen in the Chesapeake Bay who are paying $4 a gallon to take their boats out. This is going to have a tremendous inflationary pressure on our economy. We in Maryland are feeling it very severely. Maryland has the third highest gas prices in the country, at more than $3 per gallon.…”