Thursday, May 8
BENNINGTON — Democrats unfurled a new proposal Wednesday to ease prices at the gas pump, and Vermont's Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking a lead role in urging its passage.

Sanders joined Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and several other senators at an afternoon press conference to announce the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008.

"Many of the provisions that are in that act ... are precisely the kinds of actions that I've been talking about for the last several weeks," Sanders said in a conference call with members of the Vermont media.

Proponents say the legislation would provide relief to consumers while strengthening the economic, energy and national security of the country.

The main proposals include a windfall tax on oil companies, eliminating tax breaks for oil and gas companies, suspending shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and limiting the impact that oil speculators have.

Sanders said Wednesday that he received about 700 "heartbreaking" e-mails after reaching out to Vermonters and inviting them to send in their thoughts on oil prices and the "decline of the middle class." He said one couple told him of having to

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choose between baby food and diapers or heating fuel. After choosing the former, the child ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, Sanders said.

"This is the state of Vermont right now," Sanders said. "The middle class in Vermont and America is hurting and the ... increase in gas prices has taken us over the edge."

The windfall tax impose a 25 percent tax on profits of the major companies that are not invested in domestically produced renewable alternative fuels. Revenue generated by the windfall tax would be deposited into an Energy Independence and Security Trust Fund.

"This is something I believe in very strongly," Sanders said. "At a time when Vermont workers can't afford to fill up their gas tanks to get to work ... the major oil companies in the country are seeing record-breaking profits."

Exactly what constitutes reasonable profits for oil companies has not yet been defined, but some type of formula can be developed, according to Sanders.

"What you need is a formulation to determine what a reasonable profit is. These companies deserve a profit, but they don't deserve at a time of crisis to rip-off the American people," he said.

Sanders said President George W. Bush wants to increase shipments of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but the Consumer-First Energy Act would suspend shipments, putting more oil in the market and driving costs down, until the 90-day average price of crude oil drops to $75 or less. It has topped $120 per barrel.

"Bush wants to add another 75- to 80,000 barrels a day. We think that's a dumb idea," Sanders said.

Earlier in the day, Sanders said he met with the ambassador from Saudi Arabia about oil prices, urging him to produce more oil and reminding the diplomat that "friendship is a two-way street."

"The point that I made to him is that he has got to understand that people in my state and throughout this country are hurting and hurting very badly," Sanders said. "He has got to do everything in his country's power to increase the production of oil."