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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that oil and gas CEOs would soon be expected to testify before Congress with prices still high at the pump.
"The bewildering incongruity between falling oil prices and rising gas prices smacks of price gouging," he said in a floor speech. "The Senate is going to get answers, and that's why we will be calling on the CEOs of major oil companies to come testify before the Congress."
Some support for the idea came from a senator who's often sided with Republicans to tank elements of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda: Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative West Virginia Democrat with close ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Manchin said he had "no problem bringing them in" to "explain basically how the process works." He's long leaned on the White House to cut red tape and accelerate domestic production of fossil fuels to soften the blow of rising prices.
"We'll all understand a little bit better rather than just beating people up that we're expecting to provide the energy we need," he told Insider.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said the hearing would probably take place under the Senate Budget Committee. He chairs the panel and held hearings over the past year on outsized corporate power, huge Wall Street profits, and income inequality.
"The price of oil has gone down recently, the price of gas continues to go up," Sanders told Insider. "They make outrageous profits and the American people want to know why."
Prices for oil and natural gas soared last year as the economy rebounded with demand not keeping up with supply. Climbing prices prompted firms like Exxon Mobil and Chevron to recently report their biggest profits in years, even before Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
It's prompted Democrats to ratchet up their criticism of oil companies with high gas prices squeezing Americans' paychecks ahead of the November midterms.
Gas prices stood at $4.31 a gallon on Wednesday, per AAA, a two-cent drop from two days ago. By comparison, the price of crude oil dropped below $100 a barrel after it hit $140 last week in the wake of Russia's invasion, the highest level since summer 2008.
President Joe Biden was highly critical on Wednesday, saying in a tweet that "oil and gas companies shouldn't pad their profits at the expense of hardworking Americans."
—President Biden (@POTUS) March 16, 2022
"The oil industry made about $200 billion in profits last year. If it's profitable for them to increase production, they'll do it. If it's not they won't," Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told Insider. "Their motivator is profits, profits, profits."
Experts say price fluctuations with crude oil take longer to filter through to gas stations trying to make a profit. They tend to offload gas bought at higher prices first, creating a lag when consumers can expect to see lower crude oil prices reflected when they go refill their tank.
