government goes about raising debt ceilings. senate leaders from both parties are hammering that out. the kick the can deal, a short-term deal that would raise the debt ceiling for a few weeks or months. the president has said he doesn t like that idea. coming up next the just get to 2012 deal, a compromise that would give the government spending power to get through the president elections. fourth, the grand compromise, the one the president is pushing for, the long-term deal that could take a big bite out of the deficit. two big head lines, the casualties keep coming and the scope keeps widening. rebekah brooks arrested. the woman once headed up his british papers, she s out on bail. headline two, the head of scotland yard resigns. sir paul stevenson is quitting over criticism how he handled the saga. as commissioner i carry ultimate responsibility for the position we find ourselves in. with hindsight i wish we had sunlged matters involve this affair differently. i didn
months. gasoline futures which helped determine the price at the pump down 23 cents. i m hopeful that in average places, prices will drop as much as 20 cents here in the next seven to ten days. reporter: so why the dramatic drop? it s partly due to sagging demand. americans are already driving less. a strengthening dollar has dragged down oil prices as is poor economic news like higher than expected jobless claims. still, don t expect to get back to two buck gas like we had in 2009 anytime soon. a $3.50 a gallon price will be seen as relatively cheap over the next couple of years. reporter: so far, rural areas have been hit hardest. check out pictures of these gas stations taking in alaska. yeah. that one rings $6.73. a survey just out showed that americans spent about $390 in the month of april alone on gas. for many people that s more than they would spend on their monthly car payments. matt gutman, abc news, miami.
mortgage on the house to pay for it, it was so high. way too high. way too high. $4.08 a gallon? wow. and it s not going to do anything for my tank. reporter: no. it s not. even when there s good news in this story there s bad news in the story. new jersey traditionally had relatively lower gas prices when there s a crisis. $3.63. today, $3.73 in new jersey, that s a 11-cent increase just in one day. don t forget, those projections are some experts saying over $6 a gallon, i was in london a couple of weeks ago where it s $8 a gallon. we re in that range and it was unthinkable in the united states of america until this crisis now and people are looking at really bad news for the next several months. chris? $8 a gallon, makes your knees buckle. bad enough where you are.
can see the numbers behind you. almost as high here in washington, d.c. we re pushing five bucks. reporter: yeah, it s amazing. nothing to write home about unless you re writing a satire. in illinois, this is one of the six states plus the district of columbia where gas prices passed on average. and that s not unusual. even in the states where there s good news in this story, there s bad news. new jersey had tr additionally been a state with the lowest gas prices. this is a particularly big one. yesterday, gas in new jersey along the turnpike was $3.62. pretty good by chicago standards. today, it s $3.73. an 11 cent jump in one day. with the elements in play right now, the weak dollar, continuing unrest, with the heavy driving season ahead of us and a
reporter: i tell you, thomas, $3.85 here, lines here from lake shoredrive to here. the price is north of $4. in illinois, one of the six states and the district of columbia where gas prices are over $4 a gallon. here it s a whopping $4.49 a gallon for regular unless you want to get a car wash which is not going to happen on a day like this in chicago. it s been an essxtraordinarily fast increase in the price per gallon all across the country and even in states where there s good news, bad news, too. in new jersey, for example, traditionally one out lowest prices for gas with one of these kris c gas crisis, today $3.73 and 11-cent jump in 1 day. and the trend is all heading north as i said before and experts who are saying that given all the bad news, weak dollar, continuing turmoil in the middle east, seasonal