Hello on this Wednesday, the second day of April 2008. I'm Kristin Volk with a UPI news brief. The chairman of the Federal Reserve says the economy may shrink in the first half of the year. Ben Bernanke made the comment to an economic congressional committee earlier today. It's the closest the nation's central bank chief has come to proclaiming a recession. Bernanke said he expects further rises in unemployment. He also said the economic outlook has worsened since the Fed's projection was released in January. Senator Hillary Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania has slightly narrowed over her rival, Senator Barack Obama. That's according to a poll just released that says Clinton now has a nine-point lead over her counterpart. In a similar poll released earlier last month, the New York senator held a 12-point lead over the Illinois senator. Pennsylvania will hold its Democratic presidential primary April 22. President Bush is pushing for the countries of Georgia and Ukraine to become members of NATO. Bush urged reluctant western European allies today at the start of the NATO summit in Romania to consider inviting the former Soviet states to join the alliance. His stance puts him at odds with Russia, Germany and France. They fear their entry might alter the balance of power in Europe. The President's comments come one day after he visited Ukraine to meet with that country's president and visit with students. Oil executives say that factors beyond their control have sent gas prices soaring. Leaders like Robert Malone from BP and Peter Robertson from Chevron testified on Capitol Hill yesterday about the cost of gas. They say the rising price of crude oil is to blame since that accounts for about 70 percent of gasoline. Some lawmakers support legislation that would strip about $18 billion in tax breaks from the five biggest U.S. oil companies and put that money toward energy alternatives like wind and solar. Thanks for checking out this UPI headline, and go to upi.com to watch our latest story called Healing and Hearing Animals.