Bush: No quick fix for soaring gas prices
He said federal tax-rebate checks would provide some aid to struggling consumers. A spokesman said the president would raise concerns over oil costs while visiting Saudi Arabia next week.
WASHINGTON - President Bush said yesterday that he was troubled by rising gasoline prices and that he would take a look at proposals to relieve them. But he warned that there was no quick fix.
"It's been a while in the making, and it's going to be a while that we solve the problem," Bush said in an interview on ABC's
Good Morning America.
"We're too dependent on foreign oil, and we need to be exploring more at home."
Also yesterday, a White House spokesman said Bush would raise concerns about high oil prices when he visited Saudi Arabia next week.
Crude oil rose $3.65 a barrel yesterday to a record $119.97.
"Whenever the president has discussions with leaders in the region, he talks about the impact that high oil prices do have on our economy and the impact that has on the world economy," spokesman Scott Stanzel told a White House briefing. "So I think you can expect the president to make those concerns very clear."
Separately, the president of Delta Air Lines Inc., Edward H. Bastian, said U.S. carriers could be approaching a "break point" on fuel costs, making the merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines Corp. necessary. He was addressing legislators in Minnesota, Northwest's home base.
Delta, which agreed in April to buy Northwest, has seen its fuel costs surge to 43 cents for every dollar of revenue, from 17 cents five years ago, Bastian said.
At least four carriers have filed for bankruptcy since March 31, partly blaming jet-fuel costs, which have soared 74 percent in the last year.
In his TV interview, Bush said the rising cost of gas "troubles me a lot" because it is "like a tax on the working people."
Pump prices in the last six months are up 24 percent nationally, 27.3 percent in Southeastern Pennsylvania and 30 percent in South Jersey, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic figures.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain have proposed, with variations, a summertime suspension of federal gasoline taxes.
Other proposals include a windfall-profits tax on oil companies, supported by Clinton, Democratic rival Barack Obama, and many other Democrats; and new refineries, nuclear power plants, and drilling in the Alaska wilderness, supported by Bush.
"We'll analyze some of these suggestions, but the key is that we think long-term for America, that we diversify away from oil and we're wise and build new refineries and increase supply for the American consumers," Bush said in the interview.
He said that he understood the pinch for working families and that some people would cut back on summertime travel. The federal tax rebate - passed by Congress in February to stimulate a slumping economy and now on the way to taxpayers - would help, he said.