“Wall Street speculators are driving up the cost of a barrel oil,” said Musgrove Monday during a news conference at a gas station in Ridgeland.

“Many researchers say that it adds at least a dollar to every gallon of gas. The bill would have provided short term relief for the cost of a gallon of gas,” Musgrove added.

Wicker, along with 42 other U.S. Senators (all Republicans except one Democrat), voted against the procedural bill Friday. Fifty senators voted for the bill (47 Democrats, two Republicans and one Independent), but the legislation needed at least 60 affirmative votes to move forward.

According to Wicker's campaign spokesman Ryan Annison, Wicker opposed the bill because it did not include any provisions for expanding the country's offshore drilling options, which would decrease the U.S.'s dependency on foreign oil over time.

Annison told FOX 40 News Monday that Musgrove's reaction to Wicker's opposition to the bill is “a clear distraction from the fact that Ronnie Musgrove...won't let us have offshore drilling."

Musgrove, who said he supports offshore drilling, told FOX 40 News that if the bill passed amendments to expand, offshore drilling would have been allowed.

“The bill allowed and the leadership would allow the drilling amendments to be offered,” Musgrove said. “So by voting on the procedural 'no' as Wicker did, it didn't allow the bill to be taken up.”

Annison did not say if Senator Wicker would have supported the bill had it included offshore drilling, but said Wicker would not depend on the possibility of amendments for offshore drilling with senate bill.

“To say something might have happened is crazy,” Annison said.

Caught in the tug of war are Mississippians like Billy Kimbriel, who pays more than $120 to fill up his truck that runs on diesel fuel.

“It is harder to make ends meet,” Kimbriel said about high gas prices. “We scrounge up just enough to get the bills paid and there's just nothing left after that.”

Kimbriel said while he is struggling to support his family, he asks politicians one thing: “Help us out. We need some help right now. That's all I ask.”

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Mississippi cashes in at $3.81 per gallon.

Regular unleaded gas in the Jackson metro area averages $3.75 per gallon, 13 cents down from a month ago.