RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Bush, on a one-day visit to Saudi Arabia, is taking a second stab today at getting the oil-rich nation to increase production and drive down the soaring gasoline prices hurting U.S. consumers.

When Bush met with King Abdullah in mid-January, the president asked Saudi Arabia to raise production to ease high prices at the pump. Bush got a chilly response to his plea. The kingdom said it would increase production only when the market justified it and that production levels appeared normal.

When Air Force One landed in the Saudi capital today, the president got a red-carpet welcome on the tarmac and was warmly greeted by Saudi leaders as a military band played the U.S. national anthem, slightly off-key.

Bush was spending the day with Abdullah at his horse farm outside Riyadh, talking mostly out of public view over three tea services and two meals.

The White House said the president's visit is intended, in part, to celebrate 75 years of formal U.S.-Saudi relations. It will mark the conclusion of several agreements, laying out intentions to cooperate on nuclear energy, infrastructure protection and nonproliferation. But the rising price of oil undoubtedly will overshadow the talks.

Bush concedes raising output is difficult because the demand for oil — particularly from China and India — is stretching supplies. Besides, any production hike might not lower prices that much. Some economists said those prices are being driven up by increased demand, not slowed production.

Bush's visit to Saudi Arabia, which has the world's largest supply of oil, comes a day after Congress voted to temporarily halt daily shipments of 70,000 barrels of oil to the nation's emergency reserve. Bush has refused to stop pouring oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying the stockpile was meant for emergencies and that halting the shipments would have little or no impact on gasoline or crude oil prices.

It's a move Democrats have sought for the past year to increase supply and apply downward pressure on prices. With an eye to the November election, the Senate sent the measure to the president Wednesday night without a single GOP objection. The White House has indicated that Bush will sign the reserve measure.

Also, as Bush prepared to leave Washington, Senate Democrats introduced a resolution that would block $1.4 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh agrees to increase its oil production by 1 million barrels per day. The Democrats said they introduced the measure to coincide with Bush's trip to send a message to Saudi Arabia that it should pump more oil to reduce the cost of gas for Americans.

High energy costs are a major drain on the U.S. economy, which is experiencing a slowdown some think is already a recession. Oil prices are nearly $125 a barrel and gasoline threatens to go to $4 a gallon this summer.

Anthony Cordesman, a security analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Abdullah might produce something "simply because it's good manners," but nothing that would have a significant effect.