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WASHINGTON - Congress considered billions of dollars in new taxes on oil companies Thursday, looking for ways to punish the cash-rich industry and soothe growing anger over high gasoline prices.
Senate Republicans also proposed a $100 fuel-cost rebate for millions of taxpayers, and Democrats talked of suspending the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax for two months to ease Americans' pain at the pump.
But even as lawmakers jockeyed for political advantage on the volatile issue, there was widespread agreement among economists and energy experts that the government has few if any weapons to quickly drive down gasoline prices that have rushed past $3 a gallon across much of the country.
"Unfortunately there's nothing, really, that can be done that's going to affect energy prices or gasoline prices in the very short run," Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional hearing.
Still, lawmakers scrambled Thursday to put together legislative packages they hoped would -- if at times only symbolically -- demonstrate their sympathy for the nation's motorists and their willingness to stand up to Big Oil.
Congressional anxiety in this election year is increasing as major oil companies begin announcing huge first-quarter profits. Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday it made more than $8 billion during the January-March period, the fifth largest quarterly profit for any public company ever.
"While ExxonMobil executives are popping champagne and celebrating their record profits, American families are popping antacids under the strain of searing gas prices," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.,
Menendez proposed a 60-day suspension of the 18.4-cent federal tax on gasoline and 24-cent-a-gallon diesel tax. Revenue lost to the government, as much as $6 billion, would be made up by removing some oil-company tax breaks, he said.
Among the tax provisions targeted by both Republicans and Democrats was a measure that has allowed oil companies to save tens of millions of dollars through rules for oil inventories.
A House-Senate negotiating committee appeared close Thursday to changing the accounting rules, imposing $4.3 billion in additional taxes on the oil companies over the next five years. Only recently House Republicans and the White House had strongly opposed the change.
The oil industry said it amounted to a windfall profit tax, which oil company executives have said would reduce the amount of money available for oil exploration and development.
Presumably, oil companies also could pass an additional tax burden onto consumers.
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, unveiled a 10-point response to high fuel costs including a proposal to give millions of taxpayers $100 checks. They also proposed for the first time a federal law against price gouging.
"It's a bold package to help consumers ... to help ease the pain," said Majority Leader Bill Frist, who promised a vote on the measures by next Tuesday.
"We are going to ease the burden," promised Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
But Democrats criticized the GOP proposal because it linked attempts at short-term relief with oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, an issue that has divided the Senate for decades.
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