Lest we forget: "Senator Promises Investigation Into Gasoline Price Rise"

[KansDem]

From 2001, after Jeffords switched to Independent, making the Democrats the majority party in the Senate.

In a swift display of how a Democratic-run Senate will alter the debate in the capital, one of the newly empowered Democrats announced today that he would open an investigation into the recent increase in gasoline prices.

The senator, Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who will become chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations next week, said in statement that ''the oil companies need to explain why gas prices have increased so dramatically given that there's been no comparable increase in the per barrel cost of oil to them.''

Mr. Levin's move signaled an aggressive posture by Democrats on an important pocketbook issue and came as the Democrats stepped up their plans to assume control of a chamber of Congress for the first time in more than six years. The ability to run investigations is one of the many levers of power held by the majority party.

The Republicans were also newly aggressive today, with the Republican National Committee sending out a lengthy press release painting Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the new majority leader, as a bitterly partisan politician determined to halt President Bush's agenda.

...more...
New York Times

As I recall, the price of gasoline virtually dropped the same day the Democrats made the announcement!