Rethuglicans think Oil Executives should be allowed to lie.

Democrats and Republicans sparred over whether energy executives should have to swear to tell the truth before the panels.

The hearing comes as consumers are expected to get hit by a jump of 50 percent or more in home heating bills this winter. Gasoline prices are nearly 20 percent higher than a year ago, though they have retreated in recent weeks.

Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, rejected the call by some Democrats at the joint committee hearing to have the executives sworn in, saying that the law already required them to tell the truth."There is nothing in the standing rules to require that witnesses be sworn," said Stevens. "These witnesses accepted the invitation to appear before the committee voluntarily. I shall not administer an oath today." He rejected a motion by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to have the committee vote on whether the executives be given the oath.

The CEO's of Exxon Mobil (Research), Chevron (Research) and Conoco (Research), as well as the head of U.S. operations for overseas oil giants BP (Research) and Shell Petroleum (Research) are due to appear before the joint hearing of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees.

The industry's third-quarter profits jumped 62 percent to about $25.9 billion as Exxon Mobil, the nation's biggest oil company, posted the largest corporate profit in history in the quarter. Oil company's stocks have jumped about 40 percent from a year earlier, giving big gains to shareholders.

Senators are expected to grill the CEOs about why they haven't invested more profits in refining capacity and other equipment to help bring prices down.
There have also been calls for a windfall profit tax by some members of Congress, with proposals to have the money distributed to lower-income consumers to help them with energy costs.

But Sen. Pete Domenici, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said in his opening comments that he would oppose such a tax.