Moderates lukewarm on Democrats’ gas price gouging bill

Democrats' price gouging bill is running into doubts and opposition from several moderate members of the caucus.

While the bill is facing an uphill battle in the Senate, it's also not totally clear whether it'll be able to garner enough support in the House, where Democrats can only lose 6 votes.

The bill in question would make it illegal to sell fuel at a price that is "unconscionably excessive" and "exploiting" the situation during an energy emergency.

Another Texas moderate, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D), however, said that she was "leaning yes."

Many Democrats have sought to pin the blame for high oil prices on corporations, citing high profits that companies are raking in and money they are returning to their shareholders through buybacks.

But market analysts have expressed skepticism, saying they are not seeing evidence of price gouging.

"It's all the people in the market — I mean thousands and thousands of people — that bid the price up. It's not that ExxonMobil says ‘I'm going to sell my diesel for $200 a barrel,'" Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, previously told The Hill.