McConnell: Dems playing politics with energy crisis

Democrats are using high gas prices as an excuse to play politics rather than offering real solutions, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) charged Wednesday.

"Once again Democrats have been faced with a crisis and done their best to turn it into a political exercise rather than doing something to help and create jobs," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

"They pushed a tax on energy because evidently some of their leaders think it polls well," he said, referring to a Democratic bill that would have stripped the five largest oil-producing companies of $21 billion in tax breaks over the next decade.

That plan went down in a procedural vote, 52-48, on Tuesday.

McConnell urged Democrats to join Republicans on his plan, which will see a roll-call vote later Wednesday, that would require the Interior Department to hold lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Virginia coast, set a timeline for review of pending offshore drilling permit applications, and extend Gulf leases for one year, among other things.

"I would suggest Democrats spend a little more time looking at the price of gas at their local gas stations than at the latest polling numbers about class warfare rhetoric," added McConnell.