A day after truckers circled the capitol protesting the crippling fuel prices global oil giants announced record earnings. The two largest oil companies in Europe released financial reports for the first three months of the year.
BP netted seven-point-six billion dollars. That's up 63-percent from last year. Shell reported profits of nine-point-oh-eight billion dollars up 25-percent. And last week American "Conoco-Phillips" announced profits of four-point-14 billion dollars a 16-percent rise.
Sen. Dick Durbin: "These are the largest profits in the history of American business." Democratic Senator Dick Durbin accused the White House of not doing enough to help American families.
Sen. Dick Durbin: "Wouldn't you expect the President of the United States to call in the major leaders of these oil companies and say to them you are destroying the economy that we are counting on for America."
But in a rose garden press conference, President Bush criticized congress for blocking his proposals to deal with high gas prices.
President Bush: "If Congress is truly interested in solving the problem they can send the right signal by saying we are going to explore for oil and gas in the U.S. territories."
President Bush said he favors long-term fixes like building new oil refineries and encouraging new oil production in the U.S. Either way, American families and business-owners say they're paying the price.
The two largest American oil companies, Exxon-Mobil and Chevron, are set to announce their first-quarter earnings later this week.
