Byron Dorgan: “this morning, watching television as I was getting ready to come to work, I heard a news report about how much less…”

“this morning, watching television as I was getting ready to come to work, I heard a news report about how much less Americans were driving. I believe they said 4.5 billion fewer miles driven in our country in April, although it may have been January through April. I am trying to get that. But the New York Times yesterday had the same thing. It says: ``Driving Less: Americans Finally React to the Sting of Gas Prices.'' It described that in April of 2008, compared with the same month 1 year ago, Americans drove 1.8 percent fewer miles on public roads. So round it up. Americans drove 2 percent less in April, and presumably they used 2 percent less gasoline than 1 year ago. If that is the case, that gas prices are up so Americans are driving less and using less gasoline--then demand is down, isn't it? Well, demand is down--and we know that; it doesn't have to be confirmed by the New York Times yesterday. Demand is down. When gas goes to $4, people are wondering how on Earth do I pull up to the gas pump and afford to fill the tank? I had a tribal chairman come to the Senate yesterday. He described a mother who was driving her daughter, who had threatened to commit suicide, to see a doctor. But the mother didn't have money or enough gas in the car to get back home, so she came to see the tribal chairman of this particular Indian tribe to try to get some money to put some gas in the tank to be able to drive home after driving her daughter to the doctor.”