At a press conference today, Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) announced the Government Oversight of Unpatriotic Greed in Energy (GOUGE) Act to lower prices, discourage price gouging, and punish corporate greed.

“Oil and gas companies are making record profits and working people are paying for it,” said Congressman Norcross. “This legislation will lower costs at the pump and deter the sort of corporate greed we’re currently experiencing while protecting vital state infrastructure trust funds. We just passed the largest investment in New Jersey roads and highways in generations – but nice roads don’t mean much if you can’t afford to drive on them. The GOUGE Act would save New Jersey drivers over 60 cents per gallon if implemented fully.”

The GOUGE Act seeks to lower prices at the pump by temporarily suspending the federal gas tax, which amounts to 18 cents a gallon, and providing incentives for states to simultaneously suspend their gas taxes by backfilling state highway and transportation trust funds with federal resources. To ensure corporations pass these savings on to the customer, the bill also includes provisions to levy large fines on oil and gas companies found to be price gouging while also instituting a windfall profits tax to discourage corporate greed during times of global upheaval and market speculation. Together, these three pillars – lowering costs, taxing windfall profits, and fining bad actors – will relieve the economic pressure being felt by families in South Jersey and across America.