House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices
It would seem that just when you thought arrogance and downright utter stupidity in Washington couldn’t get any worse our elected leaders in the Congress come along and do something to surprise and even stun us all. So when I read the headline I thought to myself, WOW! I mean here we are as a nation suffering from skyrocketing sticker price shock at the pump and even dreading the next time we need to fill up knowing well that the price will be even higher we now learn that these night crawlers in Washington have no idea that they are about to drop the rest of us directly into the fire.
It would seem that they have now come up with the brilliant and genius idea of suing OPEC for their very own failures and shortcomings in our nations miserably failed energy policy. The very Congress that refuses to allow exploitation of our own vast oil reserves, the failure to authorize any new oil refining capacity increase in over 30 years, no new nuclear plant construction in over 25 years and no meaningful increases in funding for alternative fossil fuel alternatives. Utterly mind boggling.
It never ceases to amaze me how dumb and stupid these miserable out of touch cretins in Washington seem to think we peasants are and just how much they hold us in contempt. Now they want to make sure that they show the rest of the world just how stupid they can get and make us the laughing stock of the world while absolutely pissing off those who sell us their oil. Just how stupid can they get?! Never mind, I know that question is merely a rhetorical one.
House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices
By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.
The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.
The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto.
The legislation also creates a Justice Department task force to aggressively investigate gasoline price gouging and energy market manipulation.
"This bill guarantees that oil prices will reflect supply and demand economic rules, instead of wildly speculative and perhaps illegal activities," said Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, who sponsored the legislation.
The lawmaker said Americans "are at the mercy" of OPEC for how much they pay for gasoline, which this week hit a record average of $3.79 a gallon.
The White House opposes the bill, saying that targeting OPEC investment in the United States as a source for damage awards "would likely spur retaliatory action against American interests in those countries and lead to a reduction in oil available to U.S. refiners."
The administration said less oil going to refineries would limit available gasoline supplies and raise fuel prices.
Foreign investment in U.S. oil infrastructure has declined in the last decade. But the state-owned oil companies of several OPEC nations are owners of U.S. refineries, and those investments could be affected if the legislation becomes law, said Arlington, Virginia-based FBR Capital Markets Corp.
The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office to carryout a study on the effects of prior oil company mergers on energy prices.
The Senate would still have to approve the House measure.
The Senate previously approved similar legislation as part of a broad energy bill. However, the OPEC-suing provision was removed after White House opposition in order to get the underlying energy legislation signed into law.
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