http://andrewforoklahoma.com/newsroom_details.asp?id=1155
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rice: Squeezed by inflation,
working families need support
Press Release:
Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Rice said Congress needs to focus on Middle Class relief now more than ever after a report Tuesday showing that wholesale prices have risen 9.8 percent from just one year ago. [Source: U.S. Department of Labor, 8/19/08.]
“This is the largest annual wholesale inflation rate since the early 1980s,” Rice said. “The Bush-Cheney-Inhofe economic plan has put another $50,000 in every millionaire’s pockets this year alone, but working Oklahomans get price spikes in energy, food, health care and tuition. After 22 years in Washington, Jim Inhofe has lost sight of who he’s supposed to be fighting for.”
Rice said the rapid inflation taking a toll on middle class Oklahomans and small businesses in the state emphasizes a need for change in Washington.
“We need to look at the way Washington has been working and then change who it works for,” Rice said. “The tax cuts should go to the middle class. They should not go to the millionaires and big oil companies like Jim Inhofe has supported for the last eight years. That Bush-Inhofe approach clearly is not working for ordinary Oklahoma families.”
The report, released by the U.S. Labor Department, shows energy prices inflated by 3.1 percent in July, 6 percent in June and 4.9 percent in May.
“We know there is a supply and demand problem for energy,” Rice said. “But we have known that for 10 years. That’s why we need to break our dependence on oil. Unfortunately, Jim Inhofe, President Bush and Dick Cheney continue to push energy policies based on politics, not solutions. The refusal or inability of these so-called leaders to stand up to Big Oil and work toward giving America control over its own economic future illustrates the worst of Washington.
“Oklahoma businessmen are already trying to build jobs and grow our economy with alternative energy in Oklahoma. We have a revolutionary wind-power company in Norman, geo-thermal and solar companies in Oklahoma City and bio-diesel facilities in all corners of the state. But Inhofe has stood in the way time and again, voting against redirecting tax breaks from big oil companies to these alternative energy entrepreneurs. As T. Boone Pickens says, when wind, solar and other incentives come down from Washington, Oklahoma’s economy is poised to grow, but we need new leadership to make that happen.”
Rice said the issues are related.
“Since we have not invested in this new energy economy, we are seeing the worst inflation in a generation and a tremendous squeeze on the middle class,” he said.
