CONNECT TO CONGRESS: Rep. Rulli talks Iran, gas prices
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio — As the war involving Iran continues, Ohio Valley drivers are feeling the impact at the pump, with some seeing prices as high as $4.50 a gallon in Jefferson County.
Rep. Michael Rulli, speaking in an interview conducted Wednesday, said he wants the conflict to end “the sooner the better,” while emphasizing a desire to avoid sending U.S. troops into the region.
“We’ve been very, very, very lucky,” Rulli said. “You know, the casualty is, virtually nothing. So we’re trying to keep it that way,” Rulli said. “We do not want boots on the ground.”
Rulli said he believes the U.S. should work with countries in the Middle East to form a coalition.
“I do think we have to, build a coalition of especially people in the Middle East, whether it’s Saudi Arabia or whether it’s Qatar or whether it’s Yemen or whether it’s, you know, all the different, Middle Eastern countries have to come together and have to build a former police state,” he said. “So once that government is wiped out, there’s going to be stability with inside the, parameters of Iran.”
With gas prices rising, Rulli was asked what he would tell constituents struggling to fill their tanks.
“Well, what I, what I tell constituents is behind the scenes of things that they aren’t saying,” Rulli said.
“And what that is, is I’m utilizing the fact that I’m chairman of the Argentina caucus, and we’re utilizing the fact of our new relationship with Venezuela, the amount of oil crude coming out of Venezuela right now is incredible,” he said. “We’re firing up all those refineries in the Louisiana-Mississippi basin. It’s going to be exciting. We’re going to push between 1 to 3 million barrels out. We have to make that happen sooner, more than later.”
Rulli also tied recent price increases to developments in the war.
“The, recent flux and price, of course, is a little bit of the snags that have happened in our Iran war,” he said. “That’s why we have to look to Venezuela and Argentina as to fix.”