II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1629 

To provide the President with authority to temporarily freeze the price of 

gasoline and other refined products. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2005 

Mr. LEVIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide the President with authority to temporarily freeze 

the price of gasoline and other refined products. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hurricane Katrina 

5 Emergency Temporary Energy Price Freeze Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 (a) The Congress hereby finds that— 

8 (1) Hurricane Katrina has caused extensive 

9 damage to petroleum production, refining and trans10 portation facilities, and extensive damage to port fa-
2 

S 1629 IS

1 cilities and electricity generation facilities, causing 

2 additional shutdowns of refineries and loss of trans3 portation capacity for petroleum products; 

4 (2) the shutdown of refineries and reduction in 

5 transportation capacity for petroleum products 

6 caused by Hurricane Katrina has led to massive 

7 price increases for petroleum products throughout 

8 the United States; 

9 (3) these massive price increases have caused 

10 severe hardships for millions of Americans who de11 pend upon affordable and adequate supplies of gaso12 line and petroleum products for transportation and 

13 other daily necessities; and 

14 (4) these massive price increases threaten the 

15 availability and affordability of many products in 

16 interstate commerce. 

17 (b) To address these problems caused by Hurricane 

18 Katrina, the President should temporarily freeze the price 

19 of gasoline and other petroleum products to reduce the 

20 burden on millions of Americans and interstate commerce 

21 from rapidly increasing prices of gasoline and other petro22 leum products. 

23 SEC. 3. PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO FREEZE PRICES. 

24 (a) The President is authorized to issue such orders 

25 and regulations to temporarily freeze wholesale and retail 
3 

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1 prices of gasoline and other petroleum products at or 

2 below the levels prevailing on August 27, 2005. Such or3 ders and regulations may provide for the making of such 

4 adjustments as may be necessary to prevent any gross in5 equities. 

6 (b) The President may delegate the performance of 

7 any function under this Act to such officers, departments, 

8 and agencies of the United States as he deems appro9 priate. 

10 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

11 (a) Whoever willfully violates any order or regulation 

12 under this section shall be fined an amount up to three 

13 times the amount of the gain from such violation. 

14 (b) The President, or any person delegated authority 

15 under this Act by the President, shall have authority to 

16 seek a temporary or permanent injunction in the proper 

17 United States district court to prevent or halt violations 

18 of orders or regulations issued under this Act. 

19 SEC. 5. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY. 

20 The authority under this Act shall terminate upon a 

21 finding by the President that the domestic supply of petro22 leum products meets or exceeds the level of domestic sup23 ply as of August 27, 2005. 

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