Obama: Penalties for Oil Companies

President Obama on Tuesday announced a proposed crackdown on oil companies manipulating the oil markets to raise gas prices—a move that Republicans immediately denounced as being political. Obama also called for more funding for government oversight. Under Obama’s proposal, civil penalties for firms involved in market manipulation would rise to $10 million from $1 million and would be assessed for each day rather than on a per-violation basis. Maximum criminal penalties would rise to $10 million as well. Republicans said the White House’s proposal would only restrict oil production.