WASHINGTON, April 20 (UPI) -- President Bush wants a comprehensive energy bill on his desk for signing by the time Congress goes into recess this summer, the White House said Wednesday.
Bush's energy bill was first presented four years ago. Spokesman Scott McClellan said it is now "four years late in being enacted."
High oil and gasoline prices is "a problem years in the making," he added. "It didn't happen overnight and it won't be solved overnight.
"The reason we are in this situation is because for the past decade we never had" a comprehensive energy policy.
High gas prices have been blamed on tight supply and a spike in demand domestically as well as internationally.
Bush has advocated drilling for oil in part of a nature preserve in Alaska, more investment in alternative energy sources and technologies -- including nuclear power -- and modernizing the nation's energy infrastructure.
The drilling proposal is hung up in the Senate, but there are indications that lawmakers may be close to resolving differences on other parts of his plan.
"It's time to resolve differences and get a bill to the president's desk," McClellan said.
