Words from Senator Harry Reid...

I want to thank Barack Obama for the kind words he wrote on Monday. He is one of the most principled members of the Senate and we need more like him if we want our nation to move in a new direction. Nowhere are Americans feeling this need more directly than at the gas pump.

Nationally, the price of gas is now over $3 a gallon and, in cities like Reno ($3.12), it's even more. $3 gas is the price Americans are paying for Bush incompetence in Iraq and this rubberstamping Republican Congress. Iraq has destabilized the entire Middle East and placed a terror premium on oil -- up 22% compared to a year ago.

This week, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, released a report titled "Record High Gas Prices: Had Enough?" detailing the effects of rising prices. From families seeing their transportation costs double, to an increased risk of recession, the effects of record gas prices cannot be ignored. We need a new direction for America, yet the "Do Nothing" Republican Congress does just that, putting aside the interests of all Americans while giving handouts and to big oil companies. We need a Senate that does the peoples business, not one that caters to extreme right wing ideology.

Republicans' solution to our energy crisis seems to only be drill, drill, drill; but we can't drill our way to energy independence. Democrats are proposing a variety of creative solutions to the problem from the 2020 Energy Independence Plan introduced earlier this year, to the just this week when Barack Obama introduced his own innovative solution to our energy crisis that addresses the problem head on.

I encourage you to read about Senator Obama's solution by visiting his website at:
http://www.barackobama.com/action/fuel_economy_reform/?s=r

The Senate needs to get back to doing the work of the American people and provide real relief at the pump to our families. We cannot afford to wait.
Thank you,
Harry Reid