Get ready for more pain at the pump. As Iraqi government forces battle Sunni rebels for control of the country's biggest refinery, gasoline prices have hit their highest for this time of the year since 2008. June is typically when prices ease up. So what gives? Oil and Iraq. Brent crude hit a nine-month high near $115 a barrel on concerns heavy fighting in Iraq could limit oil supply from OPEC's second-biggest producer. Gasoline averaged $3.69 a gallon on Wednesday, the highest for the day in six years. Prices were at $3.68 a gallon Thursday. If that's not enough, two senators have unveiled a bipartisan plan to raise federal gasoline and diesel taxes for the first time in more than two decades, pitching the proposal as a solution to Congress' struggle to pay for highway and transit programs.
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IN-DEPTH
- Kerry on Iraq crisis: We will honor our veterans' sacrifice
- Iraq Requests U.S. Airstrikes to 'Break the Morale' of Militants
- Oil, Gas Prices Inch Higher as Iraq Tensions Mount
SOCIAL
--- Reuters and NBC News staff