Sherrod Brown: “Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of the summer driving season, the time of year when high gas prices will most…”

“Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of the summer driving season, the time of year when high gas prices will most harm families struggling to stretch family budgets already at the breaking point. More than 31 million Americans will take to the Nation's highways this weekend for long trips. Each of those miles will cost consumers dearly at the pump because of misguided energy policies. The simple fact is that the White House and the Republican Congress knew before they passed it that America's dependence on foreign oil would increase under the Bush energy bill. But there is hope. On Saturday, I joined my colleague, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, in Cleveland to announce our plan for a better, brighter future. Our plan invests in ethanol and other biofuels grown in the Midwest, not drilled for in the Middle East. It requires increased production of flexible fuel vehicles capable of burning an 85 percent ethanol blend called E-85. It requires increased investment to make E-85 more available in America's service station. It creates incentives to encourage early adoption of these commonsense technologies that are ready to be put into production today. Our plan also expands the tax credits for consumers who buy especially efficient hybrid cars, and it cracks down on gasoline price manipulation. It makes it crystal clear to Big Oil that manipulation, either direct price gouging or withholding supply to drive prices up, is against Federal law.…”