GOP Rep. Pfluger: Gov't Attempt to Seize Control of Oil Industry a 'War on Capitalism'

Friday on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Company,” Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) reacted to Democrats arguing that the oil companies are to be blamed for the high gas prices.

Pfluger argued that the government attempting to control the oil industry was not only a “war on fossil fuels” but also a “war on capitalism.”

After highlighting that Pfluger represented “the biggest underground lake of oil in the nation,” host Stuart Varney asked the congressman, “[W]hat do you think when oil companies … are getting blamed for high gas prices?”

“Well, Stu, it’s unbelievable that they are doubling down at this point in time where we have a worldwide crisis,” Pfluger replied. “And the questions that were asked this week [indicate] just how little my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know about not just oil and gas but about commerce suggesting that they are somehow manipulating and gouging the prices.”

“Let’s go back 20 months ago and remember we had negative prices,” he continued. “The price for a barrel was negative. And now to suggest that the government should somehow control private industry — it’s not just a war on fossil fuels. It’s a war on commerce. It’s a war on capitalism.”

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