周四，国会民主党人指责石油公司夸大汽油成本，并发誓要对其进行调查，反驳谁应该为油价上涨损害总统乔·拜登的连任机会负责。
参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默和其他民主党高层被穿着配套蓝色衬衫的支持者包围，他们举着写有“停止在加油站欺骗我们”的标语。
舒默批评最近数十亿美元的石油公司合并，如埃克森美孚和先锋自然资源公司之间的合并，可能“对消费者造成灾难性影响”。
他说，该行业以前的合并减少了竞争，导致价格上涨。
舒默表示，他已经呼吁美国联邦贸易委员会对合并进行调查，并将敦促司法部调查可能的串通和价格操纵行为。
他说:“联邦政府必须利用我们掌握的一切工具来调查石油行业。
舒默还声称，如果特朗普连任，前总统唐纳德·特朗普向石油行业首席执行官提供10亿美元，以换取乔·拜登总统气候政策的逆转。罗德岛州民主党参议员谢尔登·怀特豪斯重申了这一指控。
知情人士告诉ABC新闻，特朗普告诉一群石油高管和商界领袖，他们应该向他的总统竞选捐款10亿美元，因为如果当选，他将扭转拜登政府的环境政策。
这段对话发生在4月份特朗普在Mar-a-Lago度假村的一次私人晚宴上。
在一份声明中，特朗普竞选团队没有对报道提出异议。
白宫表示，参议院预算和财政委员会将调查特朗普的声明，民主党众议员杰米·拉斯金也将调查。
在新闻发布会前几天，拜登政府宣布将在夏季旅行季节前及时释放100万桶汽油储备。共和党人抨击此举是选举年的策略，损害了美国的能源储备。
天然气的全国平均价格是每加仑约3.61美元据美国汽车协会称，与去年同期相比增加了7美分。
支持美国石油和天然气行业的组织美国石油协会在其网站上表示，“石油价格是由市场供求力量决定的，而不是由单个公司决定的。”
美国广播公司新闻部已就舒默的指控寻求置评。
Congressional Democrats slam oil executives over gas prices
Congressional Democrats on Thursday accused oil companies of inflating the cost of gasoline and vowed to investigate them, pushing back on who's to blame for rising prices hurting President Joe Biden's reelection chances.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other top Democrats were flanked by supporters in matching blue shirts holding signs that read, "Stop gouging us at the pump."
Schumer criticized recent billion-dollar oil company mergers, such as one between ExxonMobil and Pioneer Natural Resources, as potentially "disastrous for consumers."
He said previous mergers in the industry decreased competition and led to higher prices.
Schumer said he had already called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the mergers and would urge the Justice Department to look into possible collusion and price fixing.
"The federal government must use every tool at our disposal to investigate the oil industry," he said.
Schumer also claimed former President Donald Trump offered oil industry CEOs $1 billion in exchange for a reversal of President Joe Biden's climate policies if Trump were reelected, an accusation Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse repeated.
Trump told a group of oil executives and business leaders that they should donate $1 billion to his presidential campaign because if elected, he would reverse environmental policies of the Biden administration, sources familiar with the meeting told ABC News.
The conversation took place during a private dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in April.
In a statement, the Trump campaign did not dispute the reporting.
Whitehouse said the Senate Budget and Finance Committees would be investigating Trump's statements, as would Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin.
The news conference comes days after the Biden administration announced it would release 1 million barrels of gasoline reserves in time for the summer travel season. Republicans attacked the move as an election-year ploy that hurts the nation's energy reserve.
The national average price of gas isabout $3.61 per gallon, according to AAA, a seven-cent increase from the past year at the same time.
The American Petroleum Institute, an organization supporting the U.S. oil and natural gas industry, says on its website "Petroleum prices are determined by market forces of supply and demand, not individual companies."
ABC News has reached out for comment on Sen. Schumer's accusations.
