Sen. Cantwell on "Hardball" Tonight

If you can, try to catch Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) tonight on the MSNBC show "Hardball," discussing her Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act, having to do with price-gouging and tougher regulation of Big Oil. In her words:

Three months ago, in his State of the Union address, the president declared that we must end America's addiction to foreign oil and called for energy policy that better served families and businesses. Now, he is continuing to just talk about the problem by making hollow calls for investigations and superficial policy changes. However, there is a big difference between making broad declarations and actually doing something about it.

Seven months ago, I sponsored legislation that would make price-gouging a federal crime and strengthen the power of those who regulate the practices of big oil companies. Since I introduced this bill, the Bush administration and Republican Congress have fought our effort every step of the way.

Last week, this failure of Republican leadership became even more obvious as the price of oil hit an all time high. Yet again, the administration's response was to do nothing.

We have had to wait long enough. Today we must act.

Right now I am walking to the floor of the Senate and asking for an immediate up-or-down vote on my gas price-gouging bill. If we get Senate support today, we will have won a major energy policy victory.

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