Political Quotes

“I am pleased to join with Mr. Stupak in offering this substitute which would replace the underlying bill with two targeted provisions aimed at increasing our Nation's refinery capacity and giving the Federal Government the tools necessary to investigate, deter and punish price gouging. Together, these two provisions would be an effective response to problems in our gasoline market. The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak) has drafted the price- gouging provisions of our amendment. I fully support those provisions, and I commend the gentleman for his outstanding efforts. I will direct my remarks today to the refinery specific provisions of our substitute. We would create a strategic refinery reserve. In doing so, we would build upon the success of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by creating a natural extension of that successful program of refinery reserve. Under our amendment, the Secretary of Energy would establish refineries with capacity equal to 5 percent of the total United States demand for gasoline, home heating oil and other refined petroleum products. The location of these refineries would be out of harm's way at places to be designated by the Secretary of Energy. During times of nonemergency, the refineries which make up the strategic reserve would produce refined gasoline for use by the Federal Government. In addition, State and local governments could choose to purchase refined products from the reserve.…”