In recent months, thousands of people have written to me, to Members of Congress, and to State and local officials expressing their distress about rapidly rising natural gas bills. Some areas of the country have been especially hard hit. It is clear that consumers are being poorly and unfairly served by the existing regulatory system -- a system which prevents natural gas producers and their customers from establishing contracts that respond to market forces, including downward pressure on prices that otherwise would occur as a result of plentiful gas supplies and declining oil prices. There is widespread agreement that something must be done to relieve the regulatory straight jacket in which the natural gas market now operates.

The proposal I am submitting to the Congress today will achieve the needed result. It is not a partisan plan, nor does it resort to seemingly simple ``quick fixes,'' which would turn out to be neither simple nor quick and ultimately would not fix the problems. Instead, our approach is a comprehensive proposal that can -- and I believe will -- be supported by Congressmen and Senators of both parties and will be beneficial to the consumers they represent.

Our legislative package will allow, but not require, the parties to negotiate toward a free market, so that there will be real and long-term incentives to produce and market abundant gas supplies at the lowest possible cost. In this regard, I note the declines in gasoline and home heating oil prices that have occurred since we deregulated oil 2 years ago.

Although we believe free markets not only can, but will, achieve these results, the American consumer need not take this on faith alone. To assure that the consumer is protected, I have insisted on a provision which reverses the present law by providing that, until 1986, there will be a moratorium on the automatic pass-through of increased gas costs other than those increases attributable to inflation, which as you know has been declining steadily.

We believe these ideas offer the best achievable combination of consumer protection and efficient, economic use of our valuable gas resources. I look forward to working closely with the Congress to obtain passage of this urgently needed legislation without delay.

Note: The President's statement was sent to the Congress together with his message transmitting the proposed legislation, a copy of the draft bill, and a section-by-section analysis of the bill.