Online Journal

With gas prices on the rise and protracted political fights taking center stage, Obama and GOP leaders traded barbs Tuesday over energy policy.

According to U.S. News and World Report, Obama pressed the GOP on an issue they had previously rebuffed--repealing billions of dollars in oil tax subsidies. In a letter to Boehner and other Congressional leaders, Obama called the tax breaks "unwarranted" and "wasteful," and said that if the revenue was redirected to clean energy it could reduce dependence on foreign oil.

House Speaker John Boehner told reporters that oil companies should be "paying their fair share."

The gas price discussion comes on the heels of Obama's April 21 announcement that the U.S. Attorney General's office would be creating a task force to root out price gouging at the pump. This, the president says, will ensure no one is being taken advantage of.

The Associated Press reported last week that this task force would include the role of traders and speculators, as well as gas station owners, in manipulating the price of gasoline.