Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) is calling for the government to stop stockpiling crude oil for a rainy day in order to cut prices at the pump.

"If we stop buying at this ridiculously high price ? and guess who's making money on that? The taxpayers are paying for it. The oil companies are making it," said Hall.

The government sets aside some crude oil, which closed at $124.23 a barrel Monday, for the Department of Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The SPR contains millions of barrels of crude oil in case there's a major shortage.

Hall contends the Bush administration needs to worry about today's prices. According to Hall, ending the practice of buying for the SPR will lower demand and consumers will get some relief at the pumps. He believes gas could go down 24 cents per gallon, as a result.

Most drivers told News 12 they don't believe it would be a permanent fix, but they welcome any relief. "We need to have at least some short-term effect on it, but this is a global problem," said consumer Sal Lagonia. "This is something, I think that's much bigger than this country alone."

Another man said he believes speculators are driving up the price of oil.