Parties Point Fingers on Gas Prices Legislation

With the average price of gas in the United States now above $4, Senate Republicans today rejected a plan by Democrats to give the president the authority to declare an “energy emergency” and sue OPEC nations, prosecute price gouging, assess a “windfall profits tax” on oil companies and cut down on speculation in the energy markets.

The Democratic proposal, called the “Consumer-First Energy Act,” was a grab bag of measures that Democrats cobbled together a month ago as gas prices were rising. At the time, the plan was meant as a counter-measure to a Republican plan that sought to encourage domestic oil exploration. Democrats in May voted down the Republican oil exploration plan, which would have done little for gas prices in the short term.

The Democrats’ plan would also have done little in the near term.

… A bill to extend popular tax credits for, among other things, alternative energy production, was also defeated in the Senate, victim to partisan disagreements over whether the tax credits should be accounted for by raising tax rates on hedge fund managers.

Meanwhile, there’s nothing getting done legislatively to address the rising gas prices.

ABC