WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Wednesday said the president's "inactivity" on surging gas prices cost U.S. families $593 more a year on gas.
"We're seeing the economic opportunity of America's families disappearing into gas tanks across the country," Kerry said in a statement, adding, "and for some reason, the president is not lifting a finger to help."
According to the campaign's report, the average U.S. household would spend $593 more on gas each year at the current gas prices, which have increased 41 percent since President Bush took office.
Kerry has spent the week criticizing the Bush administration for what it said has been a policy that awards oil producers on the backs of the American public.
"Gas prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks, costing families hundreds more dollars and emptying pocketbooks already pinched by lower wages and incomes," the campaign said in its statement. "Meanwhile, George Bush's friends in the oil industry have been raking in billions in profits -- $33.6 billion over the past three years."
