President Obama and Capitol Hill Republicans remain stalemated about how to address rising U.S. gas prices.
Obama said it is time for Congress to give oil companies a taste of what the American people are feeling by ending tax breaks for them.
“I think it’s time they got by without more help from taxpayers who are already having a tough enough time paying the bills and filling up their gas tank,” Obama said from the White House Rose Garden before a Senate vote on proposed legislation to end oil company tax breaks.
“And I think it’s curious that some folks in Congress, who are the first to belittle investments in new sources of energy, are the ones that are fighting the hardest to maintain these giveaways for the oil companies.”
Obama didn’t get his way. Later that day, the Senate failed to get the 60 necessary to pass the bill. Republican lawmakers said it’s because it was unnecessary and wouldn’t change gas prices.
“Is this the best we have to offer folks who are staring at $4 a gallon gasoline?” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asked according to the Associated Press. “A bill that even Democrats admit won’t do anything to lower the price of gas?”
McConnell said the bill would have done nothing for the American people.
“For some reason, thought they could put political points on the board if the American people saw them voting for a tax hike that we all knew ahead of time didn’t have the votes to pass,” he continued.
However, one former senator says he knows the reason why gas prices are so high. Former Sen. Byron Dorgan (D.-N.D.) said it’s the oil speculators who are the problem and the government needs to address them.
“There is no justification for the current gas prices. This is all about speculation by the people who are speculating on the price of oil and gas,” he told the Daily Ticker. “We could shutdown excess speculation in commodity markets. This government should do that.”