Bob Wise: “I am fascinated. I keep hearing about President Clinton's gas tax that was passed in 1993. That was actually part of a…”

“I am fascinated. I keep hearing about President Clinton's gas tax that was passed in 1993. That was actually part of a much larger bill. I never hear about other parts of that bill. How about President Clinton's tax cut, the tax cut that went to 100,000 working West Virginians making under $26,000 a year, that more than offset any increase they saw in the gas tax? How about President Clinton's deficit reduction plan, that has brought the deficit down far more than anybody thought, from around $290 billion to $135 billion, more than half in 3 years? How about President Clinton's tax cut plan, that actually dropped taxes for large numbers of West Virginians? So the result is that today, we have an economy that has actually been growing when Members of the other side, Mr. Speaker, said it would be retracting. But my main concern on this is how do you protect the consumer. I am offered two press releases from oil companies, large oil companies, that say trust us, do not worry, we will pass the 4.3 cents along. I tried that out yesterday, Mr. Speaker, at a gas station in West Virginia, as I was paying $1.32 I believe for regular. I tried that out. They said, ``Bob, how are we going to guarantee the consumer is protected?'' When I said ``That is OK, it is going to be the marketplace,'' they all broke out laughing. They know the 4.3 cents is not coming back.”