Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, NOPEC. This legislation will authorize our government, for the first time, to take action against the illegal conduct of the OPEC oil cartel. It is time for the U.S. government to fight back against efforts to fix the price of oil and hold OPEC accountable when it acts illegally. Our legislation will hold OPEC member nations to account under U.S. antitrust law when they agree to limit supply or fix price in violation of the most basic principles of free competition. NOPEC will authorize the Attorney General to file suit against nations or other entities that participate in a conspiracy to limit the supply, or fix the price, of oil. In addition, it will specify that the doctrines of sovereign immunity and act of state do not exempt nations that participate in oil cartels from basic antitrust law. I have introduced this legislation in each Congress since 2000. This legislation passed the full Senate in the 110th Congress by a vote of 70-23 in June 2007 as an amendment to the 2007 Energy Bill before being stripped from that bill in the conference committee. The identical House version of NOPEC also passed the other body as stand alone legislation in the 110th Congress in 2007 by an overwhelming 345- 72 vote. It is now time for us to at last pass this legislation into law and give our nation a long needed tool to counteract this pernicious and anti-consumer conspiracy.…”