Gas on Her Hands: Rep. Musgrave Touts Gas Tax Holiday, Helps People Pump Gas Thursday

Press Release

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave has gas on her hands and on the brain.

Standing up after helping fill 15-year-old Doug Nale's 1970 teal and rust Buick Skylark on Thursday morning, Musgrave looks at her hands. She's a long way from the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

By the time Doug is Musgrave's age, Americans may not even use gas in their cars, though the Skylark will always run on gas, and a lot of it at that.

But that doesn't stop Doug, who will soon get his learner's permit, from getting his car ready to hit the road, and it doesn't stop the gas from spilling out of the nearly four-decade-old gas tank when it's full onto Musgrave's hands.

In the back of a small central Greeley Safeway gas station store, where gas was $3.87 per gallon Thursday morning, Musgrave washes her hands. Refreshed, she walks back outside, walking up to Andrea Truchses' Subaru to ask her if she can help her pump gas.

"I'm in favor of a gas tax holiday for the summer," Musgrave tells Truchses, who owns Contemporary Cook, a Greeley catering business. Musgrave reasons that a gas tax holiday would redirect pork barrel spending into a Highway Trust Fund for use elsewhere. Plus, she's part of the Small Business Committee in Congress.

"We're really trying to look out for you guys," Musgrave says.

After only about a minute, the gas nozzle clicks to a stop. Musgrave looks confused for a split second; she's only put a few gallons of gas in the car.

"I'm trying to do the half-tank thing," Truchses says. It's easier to swallow the price of gas when she only has to put a few gallons of gas in the tank instead of more than a dozen.

After another few seconds of small talk, Musgrave shakes Truchses' hand and walks away, she has more gas to pump, more residents to meet.

Truchses jokes: If gas goes up, she'll probably soon be riding her bike to work like her husband does.

"We have to support everybody that's going green," Truchses says.

For now -- while America tries to solve its energy problems -- Truchses is satisfied with her 3 cent per gallon discount.

"It hits middle class families the hardest," Musgrave tells several residents she talks to Thursday morning. "It's a wake-up call. We need to do everything we can to conserve," she says.

On Wednesday, Musgrave spent $72 to fill the gas tank on her Chevy Tahoe. A little defensive, she reasons that the big vehicle can fit her children and grandchildren so her whole family can all ride in one car.

"We're very aware of it," she says.

For now, Musgrave says she's busy trying to figure out solutions to America's gas price problem.

Domestic exploration in Arctic national Wildlife Refuge is one solution as is a temporary suspension of filling the United States' Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to a flier Musgrave's people are handing out to residents after she walks away from their cars. Musgrave said she also wants investment in alternative fuel technology, including ethanol.

Some people don't want the shortest-term solution, the gas tax holiday for the summer, Musgrave said. They don't want it because they see gas prices as a deterrent to people wasting gas. That's not right, she says, some families simply cannot choose to stop using so much gas.

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