Gas prices have politicians in Washington talking about what can be done to bring those prices down. Northeast Missouri Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer says the goverment needs to step off rather than step in. He says when the president pulled the moratorium from offshore drilling after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, gas prices dropped immediately. He says the moratorium put in place after the BP Oil spill has resulted in the U.S. producing 200,000 barrels a year less than we were before. He says because of that, 12 oil rigs have already closed up shop and moved out of the Gulf.

He says the federal government should also push the EPA and the Energy Department to sell oil leases.

We need to “quit trying to shut them off when they’re out there with their EPA rulings,” he says. “We need to sell these leases as quickly as possible, and then allow them to be out there and be permitted and not monkey around with them and take them to court which is the first thing they do.”