Congress has been wrestling over the past few weeks with a difficult reality. Due to the rise in oil and gas prices, oil companies are making record-breaking profits. For the last quarter, ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company, reported soaring profits of almost $10 billion. At the same time, large expected increases in the cost of home heating this winter are threatening to harm millions of low-income Americans in the Northeast and Midwest who depend on already cash-strapped government programs to help pay heating bills. Many industry analysts are projecting a 30 to 50 percent increase over last year in home heating costs across the nation. This stark dichotomy has led many in Congress, Democrats and even some Republicans, to break an unspoken taboo and call for an actual tax increase -- an excess oil profit tax -- the revenues of which could be dedicated to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The LIHEAP program, which currently provides assistance to 4.6 million low-income families around the country, serves less than one-in-five eligible households. One of the strongest supporters of this proposal and certainly the most surprising has been Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). Gregg, the very conservative and business-friendly chairman of the Budget Committee, believes something must be done to reign in the "irresponsibility of Big Oil" and has recently commented that the actions of the major oil companies "infuriate" him. He was the first Republican committee chairman to go on record supporting the reinstatement of a windfall profit tax. Other proposals have recently been introduced focusing on the extensive profits of oil companies. In addition to Gregg, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has proposed that 1 percent of all oil profits be dedicated to hurricane relief. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) have each introduced bills to combat gasoline price gouging during fuel supply emergencies. Even Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Finance Committee has gone on record stating that "[oil companies] and Congress have a responsibility to help less fortunate Americans cope with the high costs of heating fuels." In order to further explore the question, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a hearing last week, during which the heads of the five largest oil companies testified about record prices for oil, gasoline and natural gas, and the factors contributing those price increases, along with third-quarter 2005 corporate profits, global demand, resource development strategies, and windfall profits taxes. Not surprisingly, all five industry leaders opposed any increase in taxes on their corporate profits. Despite this, Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) said afterwards he would craft a bill to give the federal government authority to combat gasoline price gouging, but that such legislation would not be considered until sometime next year. Many Democrats have already introduced legislation to enact a windfall profit tax on American oil companies, including Senate Commerce Committee member Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). But the prospects for the tax being enacted anytime soon are slim. With most Republicans in Congress against the idea, citing a similar tax instituted during the oil crises in the late 1970s that had mixed results (a CRS report found domestic oil production dropped as much as 6 percent), and with the White House also opposed to the idea, its enactment still faces a long, uphill battle.