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Democratic Governors Repeat Urgent Call for President to Support Efforts to Lower Gas Prices

Washington, D.C. – With Memorial Day weekend approaching as quickly as gasoline prices are rising, seventeen Democratic governors today issued an urgent call to President Bush to help ease the pain at the pump. They note that when they wrote to him three years ago, gas prices were nearing $2 per gallon, “a price most consumers would happily pay today.”

In a letter to President Bush, Democratic governors urge him to work with Congress to lower gas prices by supporting federal legislation defining and penalizing gas price gouging and ordering the Administration’s agencies to pursue anti-trust or commodities violations. Additionally, they call on him to join them in pressing oil companies to invest their profits in resolving refinery capacity issues that have become an annual foil for escalating prices.

The governors emphasize their consistent record of standing up for consumers. “We are investigating price gouging, investing in alternative sources of energy, and rolling back oil and gas subsidies,” the governors wrote. “We support corporate profitability – but not on the backs of working families and not at the obscene levels we have seen in recent months.”

Democratic governors are working toward a long-term solution to skyrocketing gas prices by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. In every corner of the country, they are promoting alternative sources of energy, encouraging conservation, and demanding efficiency.

“Talk is much cheaper than gas prices. Now is the time for action,” the governors wrote. “Together, we can make America more prosperous, more secure, and less vulnerable to the pain at the pump.”

The seventeen governors who signed the letter are Govs. Kathleen Sebelius (Kan.), Joe Manchin (W.V.), Jon Corzine (N.J.), Jennifer Granholm (Mich.), Ed Rendell (Penn.), Bill Richardson (N.M.), Mike Beebe (Ark.), Janet Napolitano (Ariz.), Ruth Ann Minner (Del.), Rod Blagojevich (Ill.), Chet Culver (Iowa), Kathleen Blanco (La.), Deval Patrick (Mass.), Ted Strickland (Ohio), Ted Kulongoski (Ore.), Phil Bredesen (Tenn.), and Jim Doyle (Wis.).

To download a copy of the governors’ letter to Pres. Bush, click here.

Copyright & Paid for by The Democratic Governors Association

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