WASHINGTON, D.C. Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today joined House Democrats to call on the Bush administration to stop price gouging.  The national average price of gas per gallon has risen to nearly $3.00 almost double what it was when President Bush took office and up more than 60 cents from a year ago.  Last week it was announced that Exxon-Mobil CEO Lee Raymond received a retirement package of $400 million. This news follows an announcement by Exxon-Mobil that its revenue reached $340 billion last year, a 25.5 percent increase over 2004, and had $36.1 billion in profits, the most by any U.S. company in history.

With the oil companies reporting record profits, Americans are rightly skeptical about whether there is price-gouging or collusion going on, said DeLauro.   We need a zero tolerance policy when it comes to price-gouging and Congress should already be investigating.  Let me note that ExxonMobil has been one of the biggest political contributors to this president over his political career.

Yesterday, House Speaker Hastert and Senator Majority Leader Frist called upon the White House to enlist the FTC and Justice Department to investigate although, both agencies have limited legislative authority to do so.  It is the worst kind of cynical, political posturing imaginable.    Worse, it is a clear abrogation of Congresss oversight responsibilities yet another in a long line of instances in which this Congress has ceded its Constitutional authorities to an Administration that time and again has shown no interest in investigating or challenging its political friends.

Three times this year alone Republicans have blocked efforts to give the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice new authority to investigate and prosecute those that engage in price-gouging from oil companies on down to local gas stations. 

Last fall, DeLauro introduced the Fuel Price Fairness Act (HR 4029), which would give the Federal Trade Commission the full ability to investigate price gouging throughout the gasoline supply chain.  It would, in times of energy price emergencies, require the oil companies to open their books to government investigators, who would be able to track down possible price gouging at any point in the supply chain.  And it would carry stiff criminal penalties for any executive whose company engage in such behavior.

While rising energy costs impact our families pocketbooks, they also pose a threat to American competitiveness particularly for those in our beleaguered manufacturing sector, many of whom receive a double-blow because in addition to the cost of running machines and getting people to work, they use petroleum-based products to make plastics and chemicals, said DeLauro.  That is why in addition to using the investigative power of Congress and passing price-gouging legislation, we need to think long-term as well and we should start with raising fuel economy standards, which we have not done for a decade.  By 2025, this move would save 2.6 million barrels of oil each day.