He added: "There is a movement in this country, in the halls of Congress, today, by the far left, where they do not want to drill, they want to raise the price of gas because they believe if they do this, this is how you force people on to metro systems, force people on to high-speed rail, force people on to their bicycles and you know, the bad part is I'm not sure that any of these people have they ever had to work in the real world."

The claim that the Obama administration wants to raise the price of gas has also been made by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential GOP presidential candidate who said last week that the administration is seeking to do so to force consumers to buy more energy-efficient automobiles. Barbour cites comments in September 2008 by Steven Chu, who is now energy secretary, that "we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." (Mr. Obama has disavowed those comments.)

 

The White House has a simple response to these charges: Why, if it is so opposed to domestic energy production, did 2010 see the largest increase in such production since 2003?

 

White House press secretary Jay Carney disputed Boehner's comments at his press briefing Thursday and pointed out that the Obama administration has issued 37 new offshore shallow water oil drilling permits since the BP oil spill, as well as one deep water permit. He said the administration is committed to more oil production in addition to pursuing other forms of energy production.