Marcy Kaptur: “when asked about the possibility of gas going up to $4 a gallon, the President of the United States and leader of the…”

“when asked about the possibility of gas going up to $4 a gallon, the President of the United States and leader of the free world said, ``That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.'' Yes, gas prices are predicted to top $4 a gallon, and the leader of the free world doesn't even know? Something is clearly wrong. Mr. Speaker, with an economy based on the fuel of yesterday, America needs new vision and leadership. We cannot rely on leaders who don't know what most Americans understand and are living every day, that our oil economy is based on borrowed time that is fast running out. Let's think about these numbers. A recent Congressional Research Service paper summarized the point clearly. Researchers predict that a 10 percent increase in oil prices lowers economic growth in our country by a quarter point to a little over a point over the next four quarters, compared to a flat growth rate for oil prices. When President Bush took office, gasoline cost 1.45 a gallon. Today gasoline averages $3.17 a gallon, with some analysts saying the price could reach $4 a gallon. Californians already know that. The American people don't need the Congressional Research Service to do the math to understand what this means, but let's run the numbers just for the sake of argument. During Bush's tenure in office, the average price of gasoline has increased over 218 percent; not 10 percent, 218 percent.”