Democrats Feeling the Heat Over Rising Gas Prices Plot Bill to Make Gas More Expensive

Senate Democrats and the White House are feeling the heat from Republicans coordinated effort to hold them accountable for rising gas prices, says Roll Call, and are preparing a legislative response: tax hikes to make gasoline even more expensive for struggling families and small businesses.

Details of the bill are still being decided, but one thing is clear: itd mean higher gas prices. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) studied the tax hike Senate Democrats voted for last year and found it would raise the price of energy for consumers and increase foreign dependence.

Why do Democrats want to impose tax hikes that would raise gas prices, which have already doubled under the Obama administration Its a fairness issue, says the White House. Energy Secretary Steven Chu testified to Congress that lowering gas prices is not an overall goal for the Obama administration.

But policies that promote higher gas prices aren’t “fair,” they’re outrageous.

Higher gas prices hurt families at the pump and everywhere else, including the grocery store. Higher gas prices also hurt job growth: for example, when energy prices increase, American manufacturers feel the burden and it negatively impacts their ability to grow, invest and create jobs.

No wonder the president’s latest attempt to deflect blame from his anti-energy policies is falling flat with voters upset about prices at the pump. Democrats have spent years blocking Republicans all of the above strategy, restricting energy production, and lobbying against projects like the Keystone XL pipeline as gas prices have steadily risen. And now that prices are going up faster than ever, Democrats are plotting tax hikes (again) that even they admit would not address the problem (see here and here).

Fortunately, theres still time for the White House to do the right thing, abandon this tax hike nonsense, and publicly call on Senate Democrats to act on several bipartisan House-passed energy bills. These bills are part of Republicans all of the above strategy, and will remove government barriers to energy production, stop policies that drive up gas prices, and help create new American jobs. Learn more about them by Liking the American Energy Initiative or visiting jobs.GOP.gov.