Politics
Elections 2012: Obama, GOP continue to spar on gas prices
Obama said there wasn’t enough time to properly study the project ahead of the deadline forced upon him by Republican congressional lawmakers. On Thursday, the Democratic-controlled Senate blocked another Republican bid to speed approval of the pipeline, which would stretch from Canada to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Also Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Obama is partly to blame for higher gas prices.
Gas prices paused this week in their march toward US$4 per gallon.
After 39 straight days of increases, prices fell nearly a penny from Tuesday to Thursday and held steady on Friday at US$3.758 per gallon for the national average. The lull won’t last long, and gas is still nearly 50 cents higher than it was at the beginning of the year.
Despite Romney’s assertions, economists say there’s not much a president of either party could do about gas prices. The current increases at the pump have been driven by fears of a war with oil-rich Iran and by higher demand in the U.S. as well as in China, India and other growing nations.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
