The Rising Price of Gas: This Administration Must Change Course

Floor Speech

Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of issues being debated here in our Nation's capital, but Hoosiers are talking about just one thing, and that is rising prices at the pump. The average price of gasoline in Indiana right now is $3.82 a gallon. That is 10 cents higher than the national average. And it is worth noting that when President Obama came to office, the average price of gasoline nationwide was $1.79.

This administration pushed cap-and-trade and a national energy tax that the President said would cause utility rates to skyrocket, they pushed it through regulations even though it didn't make it in the Congress, they suspended deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for a time, they placed the entire Pacific and Atlantic coasts off-limits to drilling, refused to explore Alaska, decreased production across the Western part of our Nation, and most recently rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.

With no joy in saying this, Mr. Speaker, I say rising gasoline prices are a natural result of the policies of the Obama administration, and this administration must change course. It's time that we enact an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes more access to America's energy reserves, more alternative energy sources, and encouragement of conservation. That's how we will tackle this crisis.

I rise on behalf of hardworking Hoosiers and everyday Americans who are struggling with the prices at the pump on this first day in March to say to this administration: Accept the Keystone pipeline, approve more domestic exploration, abandon your headlong rush toward regulation and a national energy tax, and let's give Americans real relief at the pump as this spring begins.

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