By Alan Lytle
Lexington, KY – Lawmakers from Kentucky are tackling America's skyrocketing gasoline prices from opposite ends of the pipeline. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Republican U-S Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Obama Administration can ease the pressure on tight oil supplies by allowing more domestic drilling.
"There's been a conscious effort to make it difficult to drill in this country both onshore and offshore by the bureaucrats who have been appointed by this administration and the president noting that there's been a slight uptick in production doesn't get to the heart of the problem. Sixty percent of our oil is coming from overseas; that's unacceptable. We have vast reserves in this country; particularly in Alaska."
Meanwhile Democrat Congressmen John Yarmuth and Ben Chandler are co- sponsoring legislation that levies stiff fines on oil companies caught price gouging during times of a national crisis.
"There's a five hundred million dollar penalty against oil companies who price gouge in a crisis as it is declared by the president, and it empowers state attorneys general, to make sure that they go after these people when they behave that way. I have not known state attorneys general to be shy about doing that. So I think that it provides a good deal of protection for the public."
The bill also includes provisions affecting speculation in the oil futures market, which is getting most of the blame for the latest spike in gas prices.