Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of2005

BANKRUPTCY ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 2005

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, with crude oil prices at almost $54 a barrel, and OPEC meeting in 9 days, I have come to the floor this afternoon to urge the administration to pursue what they promised; that is, to stand up for our consumers who are facing high oil and gasoline prices.

The news just this last weekend was not good on the pricing front as it relates to the American consumer. The Lundberg survey of American gasoline retailers came out Sunday and confirmed what a lot of Americans suspected. The price of gas is rising high, and it is rising fast.

According to the survey that came out Sunday, the price of gasoline has risen nearly 7 cents per gallon in the last 2 weeks, across the board, for all grades. And the Lundberg survey indicates that this is just the beginning, that higher prices are on the way.

Now, last week, Mr. President and colleagues, I asked the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Mr. Bodman, whether he was going to do what the administration promised; that is, to stand up for the consumer and try to push OPEC as hard as possible to get some pricing relief when they meet in a few days.

Mr. Bodman said, in response to my questions, that he had not made that call and, well, he had a whole lot on his plate. I do not think that is good enough. I think we have to ask this administration, and the President specifically, about using their political capital now to stand up for the American consumer who is getting clobbered by these gasoline and oil prices.

If they are not going to use it now, when are they going to use it? Why not use it on behalf of American consumers when there is such a demonstrable cause and effect between the price of crude oil rising and the price of gasoline rising?

Over the weekend, the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary Snow, said rising energy prices have the potential to stifle economic growth in the near future. Maybe Secretary Snow is willing to get on the phone with OPEC if Secretary Bodman will not. But I know somebody ought to be doing it. And that is exactly what the President of the United States promised in 2000.

He said that if the country elected him, he would push OPEC very hard to try to turn on the spigot and get some pricing relief.

OPEC is making all the usual noises. They are concerned, they have said, about rising prices. They think the market has plenty of oil.

As I said before, OPEC is going to look out for OPEC. The question is whether this administration is going to stand up for the American consumer as they promised in 2000. If the Secretary of Energy won't pick up the phone to do that, the American people deserve a better answer than to say, Well, gosh, I have a whole lot on my plate. If the average American didn't send their tax return in on April 15 saying, Gosh, I have a lot on my plate, I don't think that would be acceptable, not to this administration, not to me, not to anybody. So the excuse doesn't wash when it comes to the Energy Department's duty to go to bat against high oil prices.

We need, at home, on a bipartisan basis, as it relates to OPEC abroad, to stand up for our consumers who are faced with escalating energy prices that seem to go up by the day. I don't think it is right to let OPEC run roughshod over the American consumer and we make no comment other than to say, Gosh, we have a lot on our plate.

Nine days from now OPEC is going to meet. Time is ticking away. But there is still time for the administration to deliver on what they promised to the American people; that is, to protect our consumers from high oil and gasoline prices. I urge they take just that action. If Mr. Bodman won't do it, as he indicated last Thursday, maybe somebody else in the Bush administration will.

I yield the floor.

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