One of Missouri’s senior members of Congress says it’s time for Congress to quit talking about it and do something about rising fuel prices.
Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt notes 12 straight days of record gas prices, nine consecutive weeks of record gas prices and says Congress needs to get moving on legislation reducing foreign oil dependency and encouraging energy conservation.
He says he met with several constituents last week in a roundtable discussion and learned that workers who drive 45 to 50 miles a day are paying about 100-dollars a week more than they were a year paying for gas a year ago. .
Blunt says members of both parties have introduced bills. But he says the House Energy Committee won’t conduct hearings. He says it’s time to quit talking. "Americans are tired of these gas prices going up," he says on the House floor, "This Congress should do something about it. (But) it can’t do something about it without energy bills on the floor that do more than study a problem."
Blunt favors eliminating the federal gas tax for the summer, if another way can be found to offset the loss of revenue to the federal highway fund, and increased drilling.
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