Marcy Kaptur: “Tomorrow, Friday, President Bush will visit Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah and other key Saudi leaders.…”

“Tomorrow, Friday, President Bush will visit Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah and other key Saudi leaders. According to the White House, the President's visit will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the formal establishment of U.S.-Saudi relations. Of course the underlying reason for the trip to Riyadh is to beg the Saudis to produce more oil. Faced with $4 a gallon gasoline--it was $3.99 this week in Ohio, and already exceeding over $4 in many parts of our country--a prospect which the President recently questioned would even happen, now the President is reduced to begging the Saudis, who literally have us over a barrel. Record-high gasoline prices are hurting American families, American truckers and American businesses. The average price of gasoline has more than doubled since this President was placed in office. Fuel costs now account for 10 percent of the average family's budget. It is especially hard for people who have to drive to work, such as people in rural areas. It's hard for farmers and truckers who have seen diesel prices spiral way out of control. And still we have no real leadership on a new energy policy from this White House, no policy for making our great Nation less dependent on undemocratic theocracies such as Saudi Arabia, and no policy to move away from the carbon-based economy and ease the pressure on our fragile planet. Under George W. Bush, America has gone backwards.”