President Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu famously told The Wall Street Journal in 2008, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” At the time, a gallon of gas cost about $8 there. Fast forward to Tuesday when Rep. Alan Nunnelee, R-Miss., questioned Chu about how he was going about achieving this policy goal.

“The people of north Mississippi can’t be here, so I have to be here and be their voice for them,” Nunnelee said. “I have to tell you that $8 a gallon gasoline makes them afraid. It’s a cruel tax on the people of north Mississippi as they try to go back and forth to work. It’s a cloud hanging over economic development and job creation. … Is the overall goal to get our price of gas down,” asked Nunnelee.