John Cornyn: “As the summer travel season rapidly approaches, the cost of gasoline continues to skyrocket and the American people are…”

“As the summer travel season rapidly approaches, the cost of gasoline continues to skyrocket and the American people are left to wonder whether Congress has any plans to do anything about it. Unfortunately, every 'commonsense solution' that has been offered seems to be far from common sense or a solution because most of those that have been offered within the last year would only serve to raise, not lower, gasoline prices. So far, Congress has offered the American people little more than newsclips and sound bites from hours of endless hearings lambasting, usually, the oil companies. The result, of course, has not been any reduction in gasoline prices but proposal after proposal to raise taxes on America's energy companies, which--guess what--would ultimately be passed on to the consumer, thus raising prices and not lowering prices. This policy posture reminds me of a quip from former President Ronald Reagan, who said, 'Congress' approach is that if it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it; if it stops moving, subsidize it.' History has shown that a tax increase ultimately has the effect of not only passing along costs to the ultimate consumer but of drastically reducing supply.”