As
Hastert received treatment, a hospital attendant asked
him what Congress was going to do about pump prices.
Hastert replied that the House would pass an energy
bill.
The
measure is one of several that lawmakers are pushing
as they scramble to stop a potential political backlash
against the surge in fuel costs and show that they feel
the public's pain at the pump.
With
the national average well over $2 a gallon, Republicans
and Democrats are eager to show constituents that they
are doing something in response — even though
they acknowledge limits to what they can do to provide
immediate relief.
They
are introducing bills, such as the OPEC Accountability
Act, staging press conferences at gas stations and calling
for federal investigations into alleged price gouging
by oil companies.
President
Bush, worried that high gas prices could become a drag
on the economy, is expected to make passage of an energy
bill the subject of his radio address today, foreshadowing
a higher presidential profile on the issue.
An
ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted last month found
that more Americans were blaming Bush for rising oil
and gas prices — 34%, up from 27% in May. Some
political analysts speculate that the high gas prices
are contributing to declines in Bush's overall approval
rating.
In
a CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey this month, 44% of respondents
called it extremely important for Congress and the president
to address gas prices. In contrast, 37% described it
as extremely important for Congress and the president
to overhaul Social Security — Bush's main domestic
priority.
"If
prices continue going up," said Stuart Roy, a Republican
strategist and former aide to House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay (R-Texas), "everyone will want to be
positioned as having tried to bring them down. If prices
drop, everyone will want to be there to take the credit."
Antonia
Ferrier, a spokeswoman for Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine),
added: "When we're talking about prices of gasoline
that are over $2 a gallon … there's no question
that there's a sense that we have to do something."
The
focus on the issue comes as California's average price
of self-serve regular gasoline set a record of $2.643
per gallon Friday, according to an AAA survey.
Rep.
Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs) said gas prices ranked with
the solvency of Social Security as her constituents'
top concern in mail and phone calls.
Like
Hastert, Bush has come face-to-face with the public
desire for action on fuel costs.
He
recalled this week that on a recent visit to Ft. Hood
in Texas, he was having lunch with soldiers "and
the second question asked me was: 'Why don't you lower
gasoline prices?' I said, 'I'd like to.' "
Bush
cited passage of energy legislation as a crucial step.
The
Senate last month endorsed one of Bush's key energy
proposals — opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to oil drilling. The more-sweeping energy bill
that he wants passed comes up for debate in the House
next week.
The
bill is similar to a measure that passed the House but
fell two votes short of overcoming a Democratic-led
filibuster in the Senate in 2003. Many Democrats have
complained that the bill tilts too far toward spurring
production and not enough toward promoting conservation.
GOP
leaders hope higher gas prices will increase the pressure
on the Senate to approve the bill this year.
The
bill would provide tax breaks to encourage more domestic
production of oil. It also would promote the building
of new oil refineries and reduce the proliferation of
different fuel formulas around the country. The variety
of gasoline recipes, industry officials say, makes it
difficult for oil companies to move gas from one location
to another during supply shortages.
Politically,
it doesn't matter if such provisions deal with the long
term, said Roy, the Republican strategist. "The
most important thing for policy makers in the current
environment of relatively high gas prices and the approaching
summer travel months is action."
Among
other efforts, several senators have called on Bush
to press the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries,
the major oil-producing cartel, to increase output.
They
also have urged him to tap the nation's strategic petroleum
reserve to put more gas on the market.
Bush
has been adamant against using oil from the emergency
supply in the absence of a national security crisis,
saying he won't use the reserve to manipulate market
prices.
Congressional
Republicans also have argued that when President Clinton
released oil from the reserve in the summer and fall
of 2000, the drop in gas prices was negligible.
Lawmakers'
desire to show the public they are doing something even
brought together Republicans and Democrats on the polarized
Senate Judiciary Committee.
Lawmakers
set aside their partisan battle over judicial nominations
last week to advance legislation that would remove legal
barriers to lawsuits in U.S. courts that alleged price
fixing by oil-producing nations.
By Richard Simon, Times Staff Writer
