John Cornyn: “I come to the floor today to express concerns about the rising cost of gasoline and the Obama administration's efforts…”

“I come to the floor today to express concerns about the rising cost of gasoline and the Obama administration's efforts to further increase the American consumers' pain at the pump. As we all know, the average price of gasoline has now more than doubled since the first week of the President's inauguration in January 2009, from $1.84 a gallon to $3.86. Furthermore, the Associated Press has reported the typical American household spends about $4,155 a year filling up at the pump--an all-time high--and 8.4 percent of the median household income, the highest percentage spent for gasoline since 1981 when oil prices soared due to the crisis in the Middle East. The Energy Information Administration estimates that 72 percent of the price of a gallon of gasoline is made up from the cost of crude oil, which is a globally traded commodity. Although some would like to distract from the fundamentals, Congress cannot repeal the law of supply and demand. Indeed, President Obama used to agree with us. Last March, for example, he said ``producing more oil in America will help lower oil prices.'' However, his administration has adopted policies that directly conflict with our goal of lowering gasoline prices.…”