Republicans Attack Home Heating Assistance for America's Poor

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Mon, 20 Feb 2006 10:28:02 -0800 (PST)

Republicans Attack Home Heating Assistance for America's Poor

 

 

February 16, 2006- Republicans Attack Home Heating Assistance for

America's Poor

http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content & task=view & id=1230 & Itemid=125

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) a senior

Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today commented on

the misplaced and disproportional interest of the Energy and Commerce

Committee in the charitable donation of millions of barrels of heating

oil to low-income consumers in Massachusetts, New York and Delaware.

The Republican leaders of the Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday

announced an investigation of this program, demanding " all records in

CITGO's possession, custody, or control " relating to the program to

help poor families.

 

" If I were to try to dream up an initiative to highlight that

Republicans are on another planet when it comes to energy policy, this

investigation would be it, " said Markey. " Having utterly failed, after

repeated giveaways to the industry, to do anything to help the

American people deal with skyrocketing heating oil prices, natural gas

prices, gasoline prices and rising dependence on foreign oil, what do

they decide to investigate? A charitable donation of heating oil to

relieve the suffering of a few thousand American families!

 

" My colleague Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) helped convince CITGO to make

this donation, and under his leadership, the entire Massachusetts

delegation has written the top executives of ExxonMobil, Chevron,

ConocoPhillips, Sunoco, Marathon Oil, Valero Energy, Amerada Hess, and

Tesoro to encourage them to match CITGO. To date, only CITGO has

stepped up to try to address the needs of poor heating oil consumers.

" As we all know, the oil industry just made more money than any

industry in the history of modern commerce by tipping consumer upside

down and shaking money out of their pockets. There has been widespread

concern about price gouging, supply manipulation, speculation and

profiteering, but the Energy and Commerce Committee has yet to send a

single demand letter to any of the companies alleged to be involved in

such activity. Instead, it has decided to spend its Committee

resources and staff time trying to prevent CITGO from getting any

credit for helping the poor.

 

" Clearly, these priorities are completely skewed and underline the

fact that an Administration and a Congress committed to the priorities

of the oil industry are never going to effectively address the energy

concerns of American families. "

 

For more information on Rep. Markey's work on energy policy check out

http://markey.house.gov/ for more information on home heating

assistance to low income families in Massachusetts

http://www.house.gov/delahunt/citgodeal.htm.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 16, 2006

 

 

CONTACT: Tara McGuiness

202.225.2836