On May 8th, Senators Carl Levin, Jack Reed and Amy Klobuchar invited citizens to come to the U.S. Capitol to tell their experiences with how skyrocketing energy prices are affecting everyday life. The Senators, with Levin in the lead, got it right when they talked about their bill, the "Consumer-First Energy Act" which is designed to limit excessive speculation and impose a windfall profits tax on Big Oil, with Reed emphasizing the need, " ... experts suggest that up to 25 percent of the premium of petroleum products is a result of speculation."Klobuchar further emphasized,
"With oil soaring over $120 a barrel and oil companies making record profits by drilling into middle-class pocketbooks, it's time American families had someone looking out for them. This legislation would provide families the short-term relief they need, and help America achieve energy security by investing in the farmers and workers in America instead of the oil cartels of the Mideast."
At My Rural America, we were glad to take advantage of the Senate invitation to speak for rural voters. Barbara Leach, My Rural America's president, emphasized that, "This season family farmers are enduring an almost 100 percent increase in farm inputs -- gasoline, fertilizer, diesel fuel -- costs that already are being reflected at the kitchen tables of Americans everywhere. Rural families in general are having a tough time too because they drive 15% longer distances to get to their jobs, get the kids to school, and even to get their families to church on Sunday morning."
Jim Hoffa, General President of the Teamsters Union, spoke up for both companies and truck drivers, too. His concern: "More than 600,000 Teamsters earn their living driving vehicles that run on petroleum-based fuel. These exorbitant prices are hurting their employers, whether they are freight or parcel delivery companies, airlines, police departments, grocery chains or school bus companies companies."
Josephine Powe of Maryland spoke for the Alliance for Retired Americans, saying, "An extra dollar or two per gallon may not seem like a lot of money to a big oil executive, but to a senior on a fixed income it is everything. When our costs go up and our incomes does not, that dollar means you don't know if you're doing to have enough money to buy food after you fill up the tank."
--Picture left to right: (front) Klobuchar and Levin; (rear) Powe and a Colorado truck driver; (not pictured) Reed and Leach.
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