Chuck Schumer: “the bottom line is this: When we reduce the gas tax, are consumers going to see any of the benefit? That will be…”

“the bottom line is this: When we reduce the gas tax, are consumers going to see any of the benefit? That will be determined by whether there is a free market, whether the oil companies are actually competing with one another, whether all those up and down the line will pass the price through to the consumer. Because if we reduce the tax by 4.3 cents and the consumer does not get any reduction at the pump, what good is it? Now what we have seen in the past in the gas and oil market is that there is not real competition in certain ways. When the spot market wholesale price goes up, it immediately goes up at the pump, the price does. But when the spot market for crude oil goes down, it takes months and months and months for it to go back down. This chart shows it all. Wholesale price falls 4.4 percent, price at the pump goes up 2 cents. Now if that happens, the gas tax reduction will not bring any benefits to the American consumer, and we better make sure that it does.”