WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday strongly rejected the idea of tapping emergency oil reserves to rein in surging gasoline prices as the election-year debate over energy strategy escalated.Bush accused Democrats of playing politics with the rise in gasoline prices, saying that calls by some of them to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would leave Americans more vulnerable if a terrorist attack were to occur.
"We will not play politics with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve," Bush told reporters after a meeting with his Cabinet.
"The idea of emptying the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would put America in a dangerous position in the war on terror," Bush said.
Bush's challenger for the presidency, Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, has criticized Bush for not doing enough to provide Americans with relief from record-high gasoline prices that have topped $2 a gallon.
Kerry said temporarily halting shipments to the emergency oil reserve would be one way to address the problem.
Some Democratic lawmakers have gone a step further by saying that Bush should release some of the oil from that reserve.
