Herb Kohl: “In recent weeks, consumers all across the Nation have watched gas prices rise, seemingly without any end in sight. On…”

“In recent weeks, consumers all across the Nation have watched gas prices rise, seemingly without any end in sight. On March 24, U.S. gasoline prices reached a record high average of $1.74 a gallon. And, if consumers weren't paying enough already, just yesterday the OPEC nations decided to cut production by a million barrels a day, an action sure to drive prices even higher. Such blatantly anti-competitive action by the oil cartel violates the most basic principles of fair competition and free markets and should not be tolerated. It is for this reason that I rise today, with my colleagues Senators DeWine, Specter, Leahy, Feingold, Schumer, Coleman and Grassley, to reintroduce the 'No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act' ('NOPEC'). This legislation is identical to our NOPEC bill introduced in the last two Congresses, a bill which passed the Judiciary Committee unanimously in 2000. Real people suffer real consequences every day in our nation because of OPEC's actions. Rising gas prices are a silent tax that takes hard-earned money away from Americans every time they visit the gas pump.”