JEANNE SHAHEEN BRINGS MIDDLE CLASS MATTERS TOUR TO HUDSON, DISCUSSES IMPACT OF HIGH GAS PRICES WITH VOTERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 29, 2008

CONTACT:

Kate Bedingfield

603 782 4613 (o)/603 361 8036 (c)/ kbedingfield@jeanneshaheen.org

Caitlin Legacki

603 782 4613 (o)/603 361 9643 (c)/ clegacki@jeanneshaheen.org

JEANNE SHAHEEN BRINGS MIDDLE CLASS MATTERS TOUR TO HUDSON, DISCUSSES IMPACT OF HIGH GAS PRICES WITH VOTERS

(Manchester, NH)- Former Governor and current candidate for U.S. Senate Jeanne Shaheen today visited with voters at Suzie's Diner in Hudson to discuss high gas prices and their impact on New Hampshire's middle class families. 

"High gas prices are really hurting New Hampshire's families," Shaheen said. "We need real leaders in Washington who will put New Hampshire's interests, rather than special interests, first. High gas prices are impacting every corner of the economy, whether it's skyrocketing food prices or the drop in summer boating and travel that is hurting our tourism industry. New Hampshire's families need some relief."

Jeanne Shaheen believes we should put middle class families first again and take immediate steps to bring down gas prices by:

*Cracking down on market manipulation and speculation by closing the loophole that allows billion-dollar hedge funds to trade on a foreign exchange with no oversight and no transparency.

*Calling on refiners to increase their production of oil.

*Creating an Oil and Gas Market Fraud Task Force to investigate allegations of oil and gas market manipulation and fraud, similar to the Corporate Fraud Task Force established in 2002 in the wake of the Enron scandals.

*Releasing 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Shaheen believes we should bring prices down by increasing America's oil supply by releasing 30 million barrels of oil from the Reserve.

*Pressuring OPEC to increase production. Right now, under U.S. anti-trust laws, OPEC countries cannot be held accountable, even when they are engaged in coordinated activity to manipulate the global oil market. Shaheen believes we should amend the law so that the Justice Department can bring suits in US courts against OPEC for price fixing.

For more information, please visit www.JeanneShaheen.org.