With health care premiums up 42.6 percent in Ohio since 2000, college tuition up 60.6 percent in

With health care premiums up 42.6 percent in Ohio since 2000, college tuition up 60.6 percent in Ohio since 1999 and median Ohio household income down by 6.6 percent since 2000 everyone is feeling squeezed. Working families are hurting and at each session I heard loud and clear that gas prices are a major source of the economic pain. Gas prices in Ohio have risen 129 percent since the beginning of 2001 from $1.48 per gallon to $3.15.

How are moms or dads supporting families and earning $7 or $8 an hour supposed to fill their tanks? It takes a day of work to fill the tank to get to work. That’s unsustainable.

Two weeks ago, while Congress wasn’t in session, my staff and I traveled Ohio’s 6th Congressional District on what we called an Economic Listening Tour. During one of the six sessions a senior citizen told me he’s unable to afford fruit now on his fixed income. We’ve all seen food prices creeping up as gas prices have skyrocketed.

It’s going to take many creative solutions, and I know we need to work harder. But, as I said on the tour, I also believe we need to work together. America has been through tough times before and I believe in our country’s power to reinvent itself if we work together.

As a first step, and as I reported during the tour, on February 27 the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5351, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008.

Reasons for support

I supported H.R. 5351 for two reasons. First, it will make an unprecedented investment into renewable energy sources, ultimately reducing our nation’s dependency on foreign oil. Second, this bill will eliminate $18 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies to the top five domestic oil and gas producers. Quite frankly, these companies don’t need a government handout.

ExxonMobil earned more than $40 billion last year, the most any company has posted ever. And it’s precisely why I voted, on behalf of my district, to say that we refuse to throw more tax breaks and subsidies to Big Oil. I’m hopeful the Senate will now pass this bill and that the president will sign it.

Since the tour I’ve also signed onto a letter to the president asking him to temporarily suspend purchases of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I believe this action will allow more oil to remain on the market, thus helping to drive down gas prices by as much as 25-cents a gallon.

These are both just small pieces of the puzzle, but as potential solutions arise I’m willing to examine all of them.

If you took the time to attend our listening tour, thank you. Let’s keep the two-way communication going.

X U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, a Democrat, represents Ohio’s 6th District.