McConnell accuses Democrats of using Carter's playbook to address rising gas prices

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday accused Democrats of trying to use the same failed plans that President Carter used in the 1970s to address the energy crisis, and said they should focus on increased domestic energy production to lower gas prices rather than taxing energy companies.

"Just like Carter before them, today's Democrats are using the crisis of the moment as an excuse to push their own vision of the future with a windfall profits tax on energy companies," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

McConnell said American consumers are looking for real answers to the problem of rising gas prices, but instead are getting "gimmicks and deflection."

"Every time gas prices go up, Democrats find there's nothing they can do about it," McConnell said. "Then they propose something completely counterproductive, just to quiet their critics. This time, it's a tax increase."

McConnell said the government needs to allow U.S. companies to develop resources within the U.S., and said this can be done by reducing bureaucratic red tape that now stands in the way of this exploration. "If ever there was a moment to develop our resources here at home, it's now," he said.

He also said that far from a tax hike, the U.S. needs to stop penalizing U.S. producers, since this only encourages overseas production and deepens U.S. dependency on foreign oil. McConnell added that Democrats needs to help reverse the "anti-energy crusade" of the Environmental Protection Agency.