Steve Kagen: “in northeast Wisconsin last Tuesday, prices for regular gasoline hit $3.13 per gallon, 37 cents higher than a month ago…”

“in northeast Wisconsin last Tuesday, prices for regular gasoline hit $3.13 per gallon, 37 cents higher than a month ago, and they have doubled since President Bush took office. And what is worse, the price of gasoline rose even as the price of crude oil fell. Yet the Federal Trade Commission has yet to investigate or punish anyone for price gouging. This is unacceptable. The FTC has a duty to investigate unfair trade practices. H.R. 1252, the Emergency Price Gouging Prevention Act, gives the FTC explicit authority to investigate and punish energy price manipulation at each and every stage along the way. It brings greater transparency to oil and gas markets and forces offenders to pay penalties to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1252. It will protect consumers from unreasonable escalations in gasoline prices. There is a better way to do things in America. Let's get started today.”