They (He) Voted For You: Fuel Prices

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., voted for an unsuccessful attempt to end a filibuster over the "Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008."

The motion failed 51-43, as it required at least 60 votes to prevail. U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., was among six members who did not vote on the motion.

"The Democratic energy package would have imposed a tax on any 'unreasonable' profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies and given the federal government more power to address oil market speculation that the bill's supporters argue has added to the crude oil price surge," The Associated Press reports.

"Republicans argued the Democratic proposal focusing on new oil industry taxes is not the answer to the country's energy problems," the article said. "A GOP energy plan, rejected by the Senate last month, calls for opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil development and to allow states to opt out of the national moratorium that has been in effect for a quarter century against oil and gas drilling in more than 80 percent of the country's coastal waters."

Update: Rockefeller reacts to the GOP block to The Register-Herald of Beckley.