Bush Administration Pushed to Bring Gas Price Relief

The Bush administration is being pressed to leverage with OPEC to increase oil supply output. A group of senators say Congress could hold up an arms deal with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other OPEC nations if the group doesn't follow through.

In a joint advisory letter, lawmakers contend the White House has not done enough to get tough with, quote, "so-called OPEC allies." The group of senators pressing for tougher action are three Democrats and one independent.

Saudi Arabia's oil minister said last weekend the reason for the tight global supplies is due to limited refining capacity along the entire supply chain. A spokesman for the White House calls the push for tougher action by the senators, quote, "the wrong approach when it comes to our security and our energy."

Scott Stanzel said the arms sales were not a bargaining point and were made in the interests of national security. The Bush administration has plans for a ten-billion-dollars arms sales package to Gulf Arab states. It also wants to sell Saudi Arabia bomb-guidance kits worth 120-million-dollars.