Today, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement on the new record prices per barrel of oil:

“Americans are paying for the Bush Administration's failed policies it every time we fill up our gas tanks.  The price of oil per barrel has more than doubled since President Bush walked into the Oval office; and at over $76 a barrel today, Americans are getting squeezed even more.  The Bush Administration has done nothing to help the average American drowning in higher costs of living, but has done a great deal to help its Big Oil buddies soak up record profits.”

A chart, courtesy of the Office of the Democratic Leader, highlighting the record gasoline prices around the country can be found here: State By State - Gas Prices Rise.pdf  – in Massachusetts, gasoline is OVER $3.00 a gallon now – double what consumers paid in 2001 when President Bush took office