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WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats continued to spar over how best to address the nation’s road transportation needs, as the Senate and House moved on opposing paths.

U.S. retail diesel prices dropped 4.6 cents last week to $2.496 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported — the fourth straight decline — but rising crude oil costs will soon lead to a reversal of that trend, a department analyst predicted.

House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) said he was “deeply troubled” over a claim by truck safety inspectors that proposed legislation requiring the purging of flammable materials from tanker wetlines would be “difficult, if not impossible,” to enforce.

Concern about the possibility of legislative threats to the use of owner-operators has led American Trucking Associations to join a Washington, D.C., lobbying group.

Ocean shipper Horizon Lines lost $31.1 million, or $1.02 a share, in the second quarter, compared with a profit of $5.8 million, or 19 cents, a year earlier.

U.S. consumer confidence rose this month for the first time in five months, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Grocery store chain Safeway Inc. said its second-quarter profit inched up 1.8% to $238.6 million, or 57 cents a share, from $234.3 million, or 53 cents, last year.

Universal Truckload Services said its second-quarter net income plunged 62.8% to $1.3 million, or 8 cents per share, from $3.5 million, 22 cents, a year ago.