The national average for gas prices is hovering just under three dollars a gallon for regular unleaded.  But the pain at the pump is not falling on deaf ears in Washington .

Democrats are blaming the president for the spike in prices.

Democrat Senator Dick Durbin, from  Illinois , says, "The prices at the pumps don't reflect our addiction to oil, they reflect a failure in leadership by this White House.

And Republicans are scrambling to stop the gas issue from endangering their majority in both houses of Congress during this fall's elections.

Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, from Texas, says, "The people of are not interested in Democrat charges against Republicans and Republican charges against Democrats, they want more resources so that the price of gasoline at the pump will come down."

Meanwhile, the president has proposed a federal investigation into possible price gouging at the pump, temporarily easing clean air regulations that are causing shortages of cleaner burning summer gasoline blends, and halting deposits to the nation's emergency stockpile of oil.

Industry analysts say the president's plan probably won't help the price at the pump.  While some consumers are saying the shortage of gas has nothing to do with politics, it has to due with consumer demand.

Republicans and Democrats have echoed the president's call for an investigation into oil company practices, but an FTC official says the commission is already looking into those complaints.

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