Oil hits $105 a barrel, Fossella not concerned

Oil has hit $105 a barrel and yet Vito Fossella seems unphased. via
the NY Times;

It is the second time this year that OPEC had ignored public calls from the United States to increase supplies. In January, Mr. Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia and urged producers to open their taps. But the plea failed to sway OPEC. When the group met in February, it kept its production level unchanged.

Fortunately we have Vito Fossella fighting the good fight for us and demanding answers;

"Unless production increases significantly, there could be a problem this summer," Fossella said. "If you thought we had difficulties with home heating oil and gas prices this winter, just wait. A surge in electricity rates and power outages may be just around the corner because the Administration lacks a clear and comprehensive energy policy. Today we are sending a wake-up call to the Energy Department and others that Americans could be hit with escalating electricity rates this summer. Its failure to act following OPEC's production cutbacks last year and its subsequent decision to ignore our warnings of price surges for home heating oil and gas have mired us in this current predicament."

Sadly you know the punch line. These comments are from Vito Fossella, March 23, 2000 criticizing President Clinton for his lack of response to oil then hitting $30 a barrel. Eight years later, oil has gone up 350%. Vito Fossella, well he has no comment. Which considering Vito Fossella's Fidel Castro embarrassment maybe it is better he keeps his mouth shut.

Fossella opposed and now favors Gas price gouging

Last year Rep. Vito Fossella voted in favor of the Federal Energy Price Protection Act of 2006 [HR 5253] a bill nearly identical to HR 1252 which he voted AGAINST this year. We covered yesterday the games he played by introducing an alternative bill with extremely limited or no penalties the same day Congress passed HR 1252. Today's question, why did he support the bill one year and then caved to Exxon and flipped on it the following year?

Additionally if Rep. Fossella feels so strongly about this issue that he actually took some time to try to draft legitimate legislation, the question arises why has he never bothered to work on helping to pass similar legislation in the past?

REFUSED TO CO-SPONSOR H.R.3681 in 2005, To amend the Clayton Act to make unlawful price gouging for necessary goods and services during Presidentially declared times of national disaster.

REFUSED TO CO-SPONSOR H.RES.238, Condemning any price gouging with respect to motor fuels during the hours and days after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001. [no xml link]

REFUSED TO CO-SPONSOR H.R.3782, To prohibit price gouging of gasoline and diesel fuel in areas declared major disasters.

REFUSED TO SIGN discharge petition to allow the consideration of the resolution H. Res. 568 entitled, a resolution providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3936) to protect consumers from price-gouging of gasoline and other fuels during energy emergencies, and for other purposes; Dec 2005

This shouldn't come as a surprise. VetoFossella.com shows us he votes against or refused to support Minimum Wage bills year after year only to then vote for it this year. In fact he voted against an identical bill just last year in the Republican controlled Congress. Does Fossella actually have a stance on anything?

Fossella supports high gas prices

Following up on yesterday's post is some comparative analysis from the Washington Post;

By far, the largest factor determining prices at the pump is the international price of oil. About 85 percent of the fluctuations in gasoline prices over the last 20 years were due to changes in the price of crude oil in the world market, according to the Federal Trade Commission. But that doesn't seem to be the case at present. The price of crude oil is actually lower now than it was last summer, yet gasoline prices are considerably higher. In fact, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that crude oil prices will average about $66 a barrel this summer, $4.00 per barrel less than last summer's $70.00 price. But the EIA is predicting that gasoline will average about $2.95 a gallon this summer, up about 11 cents from last summer's average of $2.84 per gallon.

Remember Rep. Fossella voted in favor of allowing Oil companies to excessively raise prices at the gas pump regardless of crude prices or supply costs. Via the DNC;

Gas prices have continued to skyrocket in recent weeks, though crude oil is lower than it was last summer. At the same time, as Stephanie pointed out, "ExxonMobil reported this year the largest annual profit of any U.S. company ever: $39.5 billion."

So once again we ask, why is Rep. Vito Fossella supporting the greed of companies like ExxonMobil as opposed to average citizens struggling to afford filling up their car with gas just to get to work?