THE DALLES, Ore., May 23 (UPI) -- A day after oil prices topped $130 a barrel for the first time in history, U.S. lawmakers debated Thursday whether increased production at home would lower prices at the pump.

In an effort to ease the burden on consumers as gasoline prices reach record highs of $4 a gallon, Congress passed a measure last week demanding that the administration stop pulling oil off the market to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The same day, though, the Senate rejected legislation that would have opened up areas in the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.

Republicans, such as Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., say the vote was a mistake because supply is directly tied to price. The only way the United States can affect supply is to increase domestic production, proponents of drilling argue, particularly after President Bush's request last week that Saudi Arabia release more oil onto the market resulted in only a small increase of 300,000 barrels per day.

"We have enough oil in this country to make ourselves almost energy-independent, and not one person has mentioned it," Burton said Thursday at a hearing on oil prices and national security in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We have to look at the realities of today, and the reality today is that we have untapped reserves that need to be drilled."

The United States currently produces 5 million barrels of oil a day and consumes 21 million barrels. According to the Energy Information Agency, the country had 21 billion barrels of crude oil in proven reserves at the end of 2006.