Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Monday the White House is calling every member of the Senate, urging them to reject the "CAP Act."

"The White House is calling every individual senator and asking them to stay off of this bill,” Corker told the Times-News editorial board Monday while promoting his legislation. “I see it as a part of the fulcrum of this (spending) debate. I’m hoping that it passes."

The "CAP Act," sponsored by Corker and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), would cap federal spending at 20.6 percent of gross national product after 10 years.

The government can’t do anything in the short term to lower gas prices, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said on Monday.

"The fact is, there isn't anything that’s going to change that tomorrow," Blumenauer told ABC’s “Top Line” when asked what Congress or the White House could do. "You could drain America dry of its oil … and it’s not going to happen overnight."

According to the automobile club AAA, the national average price of a gallon of gas Monday was $3.86. A year ago, it was $2.85.

Blumenauer said that rather than taking steps to artificially lower gas prices, the government ought to get behind alternative forms of transportation that consume less energy.

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Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is criticizing President Obama for expressing support for Brazilian oil production while limiting American energy output.

"Under his administration, there is a de facto moratorium on oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico," Pence wrote in an op-ed Monday in The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind. "The United States has a drilling ban off both coasts, on Alaska's continental shelf and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

Permitting for deepwater projects in the Gulf was halted after last year's BP oil spill and the first permits were only recently issued; permitting for shallow-water projects has also slowed. 

A federal appeals court will hear arguments next week about whether President Obama was born in the United States.

Sen. Lee said a feeling of "business as usual" pervades President Obama's administration in terms of government spending.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray (D) is preparing a response to last week's letter from House and Senate Republicans requesting "detailed information" about how he will comply with a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions in the District.

The ban was reinstated earlier in the month when Congress approved a spending bill for the remainder of FY 2011, H.R. 1473. Part of the agreement between the White House and Congress was to reinstate the so-called Hyde amendment for the District, but Republicans in an April 19 letter noted that D.C. has not always complied with the prohibition in the past.

Republicans also said they were "disappointed" that the mayor's office has ignored "repeated requests" in the past for information about abortion funding, although Gray's office said a response would be forthcoming.

"Unlike previous administrations, Mayor Gray will send a response," his office said. "Since receiving the first letter in January, the Mayor's staff have been in communication with congressional staff about this issue." Gray has been in office since Jan. 2, after winning an uncontested election in November.

Freshman Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Sunday night flatly rejected a recommendation from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that the U.S. should start bombing Col. Moammar Gadhafi's inner circle in order to force him to leave Libya.

Amash was responding to Graham's CNN appearance on Sunday, when Graham said the U.S. should be prepared to ignore the United Nations Security Council and step up attacks on Libya.

"You can't let the Russians and the Chinese veto the freedom agenda," Graham said. "So any time you go to the United Nations Security Council, you run into the Russians and the Chinese. These are quasi-dictatorships, so I wouldn’t be locked down by the U.N. mandate."

"Let's be clear: Sen. Lindsey Graham does not speak for the 'freedom agenda,' as he implies, nor does he speak for the Republican Party," Amash responded in a Facebook post. "He believes a president can commence war without congressional authorization, in direct contravention of the Constitution. Nobody should mistake his views for the views of Republicans or genuine conservatives."

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Friday joined the growing chorus of members of Congress who have condemned President Obama's decision to enter the conflict in Libya without first seeking congressional approval.

"I feel so strongly that the president did not follow the War Powers Act and that he should have come to Congress for approval first," Collins said on "In the Arena" a program on WCSH 6, a local NBC affiliate in Portland, Maine. "In my mind there is just no doubt about it."

Collins and other members of Congress from both parties contend that the unrest in Libya did not meet the criteria laid out in the War Powers Resolution Act of 1973 that allows the president to go to war without approval of the Congress. That act was a joint congressional resolution that empowers the president to send armed forces into action abroad only with authorization of Congress or if the United States or its interests are under attack.

"If there had been in imminent threat to the United States, then the president would have been justified in deploying troops and using force but that was not the situation that we faced," said Collins.

In March, Obama ordered U.S. armed forces to join in coalition attacks on military installations and forces controlled by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Although the U.S. has since withdrawn from many of the military strikes, Obama has ordered the military to begin new attacks with unmanned U.S. drones.

Collins, a Republican centrist, becomes the first GOP senator to publicly say she won't vote for the Ryan spending plan.