Fuel Prices Soar in Time for Easter, Passover [POLL]

The pump is getting even more painful this holiday week. "Holiday travelers will find gasoline prices more than 17 percent higher than at Christmastime," and will only keep rising, according to a Newsday report.

Gas in Syosset has surpassed the $4 mark for a gallon of regular fuel and has reached almost $4.50 per gallon for diesel.

While TOBAY has some of the highest gas prices in Nassau County, eastern Long Islanders are really feeling the pain. According to the Westhampton-Hampton Bays Patch Commute section, a regular gallon will cost you $4.36.

Those coming weeks just happen to be two major travel periods: spring break and later, Memorial Day.

The issue has reached Congress and the Senate, with our own representatives fighting for lower prices from both sides of the aisle.

Rep. Steve Israel, D-Dix Hills, proclaimed, "Gas prices are hurting families and hurting our nation's prospects for economic recovery," in support of tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a reserve of over 700 million barrels of oil. Tapping into the stockpile, he said, would bring gas prices down to manageable levels.

"I live on an island which happens to be very long," said State Sen. Carl L. Marcellino, R-Syosset, in 2008. "The merchants out [east]…live for the tourists. They depend on people to take those day trips out to the east end of the island. If gas is…over $4.50, [west enders] will not go that far. They won't participate in the economy…The economy of Long Island will suffer."

Have swollen gas prices changed your driving habits? How much are you paying to fill up at the pump? How do you ration your fuel? Vote in the poll below and tell us your answers in the comments.