Roy Blunt: “I think we've already passed this bill in this Congress 345-76 or something like that. And I'm not surprised we're…”

“I think we've already passed this bill in this Congress 345-76 or something like that. And I'm not surprised we're seeing it again. We're not seeing answers to the energy problems we face. Gas prices reached another high yet today. $3.79 a gallon is the average in the country. American families and small businesses are paying $1.46 per gallon more today than they were paying when Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker. In 2006, the minority leader at that time, Nancy Pelosi, said, Democrats have a commonsense plan to bring down skyrocketing gas prices. Well, for weeks now Republicans have been asking what that commonsense plan was, and we've given up on that; and so we will begin in the next new days going ahead and rolling out our plans as to what we think we could do to do something about these prices. This bill was not an answer last year. It is not an answer this year. NOPEC is no answer. NOPEC is no policy. NOPEC actually means more dependence. Why we would want to continue to head down the road of more dependence on oil from outside the United States is amazing to me. Ninety-one percent of all Americans commute to work using an automobile. And the increase in gasoline costs for the 3.3 million Americans who drive at least 50 miles each day to work has increased by $1,200 since this Congress began its work 16 months ago.”