Chuck Schumer: “I have no objections to the amendment of the Senator from New Hampshire and would be fully supportive of it. I will…”

“I have no objections to the amendment of the Senator from New Hampshire and would be fully supportive of it. I will speak on another issue for about 5 minutes. I thank my colleague from West Virginia, our great leader, for ceding the time. From one end of New York to the other, all the talk this past week has been on the high price of gasoline, the high price of oil, the high price of all petroleum products. Oil prices went up to $75 a barrel. Gasoline went up 40 cents in 1 month. This is not only burning a hole in people's wallets and pocketbooks, but it is also putting a real crimp in our economy. In upstate New York, in New York City, we depend on tourism. Fewer people will drive, fewer people will come. People are making decisions not to buy that extra outfit of clothes for youngsters, not to take the trip to see the grandkids because of the high price of gas and oil. Yet, today, when the President spoke about this issue for the first time, we did not hear what we needed to hear. The President seems to think that gouging is a problem of the corner gas station. It is not. It is a problem of the dwindling number of large behemoth oil companies. We did not hear from the President the five words we need to hear: Get tough with big oil. That is the problem. Of course we have a supply and demand problem. We know that. The big oil companies, faced with no competition, take advantage of every twist and turn.…”