Washington D.C, March 29 (Xinhua-RHC) U.S. President Barack Obama pressed the Congress to end billions of dollars in subsides handed out to oil companies each year on Thursday.

President Obama said, "Today, Members of Congress have a simple choice to make. They can stand with big oil companies, or they can stand with the American people."

President Obama went on to say, Last year, the three biggest U.S. oil companies took home more than 80 billion dollars in profit. Exxon pocketed nearly 4.7 million dollars every hour. Every time gas goes up by a penny, these companies usually pocket another 200 million in quarterly profits.

Obama said that rather than taxpayer giveaways to an extremely profitable industry, that money should be used in promising clean energy technologies. He listed wind power, solar power, biofuels, fuel-efficient cars, trucks and buildings as the future priorities.

The address came in response to rising pump prices, which had turned out to be a campaign issue and dragged down the supporting rate of Obama in the Gallup's poll. The U.S. national average regular gasoline price rose to 3.92 dollars per gallon on March 26, 2012, an 18.76 percent increase since the beginning of this year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Higher fuel prices hurt the economy and could dampen the moderate recovery. Most post-World War II U.S. recessions are linked to surging oil prices. GOP lawmakers, presidential candidates, and the oil industry have been attacking the Obama administration's energy and economic policy.

The U.S. Department of Interior announced permission for oil and gas exploration off the coast of Alaska and in the Atlantic Ocean as an evidence that the Obama Administration was not hostile to fossil-fuel development.

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