Top Democrats push for FTC to crack down on gas-price gouging
WASHINGTON — Citing growing worries about high gasoline prices, Democratic leaders announced an effort Thursday to give the Federal Trade Commission increased authority to crack down on companies that engage in price gouging.
In doing so, they downplayed the possibility of other options such as a federal gas tax holiday or offering oil companies more government incentives to increase production. Instead, they said the FTC needs more tools, including stiffer fines and penalties and a team of dedicated experts to monitor markets and go after price gouging.
With voters concerned about the growing toll of inflation, Democrats again signaled their intention going into November’s midterm elections to place much of the blame for high gas prices on oil companies. Democrats accused oil executives of “ripping off the American people” at a hearing this month.
“There’s no excuse for big oil companies to profiteer, to price gouge or exploit families,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday.
“Congress must do more to beef up the FTC’s ability to crack down on potential gas price manipulation and price gouging,” added Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The average price of a gallon of gas was $4.14 Thursday, according to AAA, and is markedly higher than that in California and other western states.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said Congress strengthened the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authority to investigate and punish energy market manipulation some two decades ago.
That was following the Western energy crisis of 2000 to 2001 when Enron and affiliates were found liable for engaging in various market manipulation schemes.
She said the FTC needs a dedicated team of experts monitoring transportation fuels and looking out for any suspicious pricing behavior, and it needs authority to enact fines and penalties that would lead to corrective action.
A draft description of the legislation says it would double the maximum penalty for manipulating wholesale oil markets to up to $2 million a day for each violation.
Turkish-Saudi relations: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan landed in Saudi Arabia on Thursday in a major reset of relations between two regional powers following the slaying of a Saudi columnist in Istanbul.
The visit marks the latest in Ankara’s bridge-building efforts with its key rival. It is also Erdogan’s first visit to the kingdom since 2017, the year before the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.
Erdogan was greeted at the airport in the Red Sea city of Jiddah by the Mecca governor. Official photos released by the Saudi Press Agency and the kingdom’s Media Ministry showed Turkey’s leader accompanied by his wife.
Earlier this month, Turkey dropped the trial of 26 Saudis suspected of involvement in the killing of Khashoggi, who’d written columns critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for The Washington Post.
The move was largely seen as a gesture that paved the way for Erdogan’s trip. Chauvin appeals: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is appealing his conviction for murder in the killing of George Floyd, arguing that jurors were intimidated by the protests that followed and prejudiced by heavy pretrial publicity.
Chauvin asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals in a court filing Monday to reverse his conviction, reverse and remand for a new trial in a new venue, or order a resentencing.
Last June, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years in prison after jurors found him guilty of seconddegree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned the Black man to the ground with his knee on his neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd had been accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store.
Three other fired officers face state trial this summer after being convicted in federal court this year of violating Floyd’s civil rights. Okla. abortion ban: The Oklahoma House gave final approval on Thursday to a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
The bill approved by the GOP-led House on a 68-12 vote without discussion or debate now heads to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it within days.
The abortion bill, dubbed the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act, prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in the fetus, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a pregnancy.
A similar bill approved in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed in that state, sending many women seeking the procedure to Oklahoma and other states.
Oklahoma House members also voted Thursday to adopt new language prohibiting transgender students from using school restrooms that match their current gender identity and requiring parental notification ahead of any classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity. Prisoner exchange: Trevor Reed is back in the United States one day after the Marine veteran was swapped for a Russian drug trafficker in a prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow, his mother tweeted early Thursday.
His destination was not immediately clear. Reed’s parents live in Granbury, Texas, near Dallas.
Reed was swapped in Turkey on Wednesday for Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been serving a 20-year prison sentence in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy case.
Reed, 30, was arrested in the summer of 2019 after Russian authorities said he assaulted an officer while being driven by police to a police station following a night of heavy drinking. He was later sentenced to nine years in prison.
Ransom legislation: Nigerian lawmakers have taken steps to bar the payment of ransoms to kidnappers at a time when thousands are in captivity, including passengers kidnapped during a train attack in late March near the nation’s capital.
Nigeria’s Senate passed a bill amending the country’s Terrorism Prevention Act to bar the ransom payments. It said the amendment will “prevent terrorist groups from laundering money.”
However, the legislation could cause more harm to kidnap victims and their families if the bill is signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, activists and Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said Thursday.