Republicans must have done some internal polling and found gas prices to be their biggest vulnerability this year, because the moves to do something about it have been fast and furious. Yesterday, it was Hastert and Frist. Today, it’s Bush.
President Bush, faced with rising public discontent over high fuel prices, today directed his administration to help investigate possible price gouging and ordered a temporary halt to deposits in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
In a speech in Washington to the Renewable Fuels Association, Bush also promoted a variety of measures aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, which accounts for 60 percent of domestic consumption. But he ruled out any “price fixing” or tax increases, policies he attributed to Democrats in the past and that he said have not worked.
First, Bush was against using the Strategic Oil Reserve to lower prices before he was for it. Second, the biggest proponent of taxing oil profits, at least lately, is a Republican. And third, this neglects to mention that Bush also announced that he is temporarily easing environmental rules for gasoline, despite the fact that this may not have any significant effect on the price, arguing, “Every little bit helps.”
Bush also vowed to take price gouging seriously, but as the Center for American Progress noted, the president is a little late to the party.
For over a year, the administration and the leadership in Congress have disregarded numerous opportunities to act on price gouging, but have failed to do so. In September 2005, during the aftermath of Katrina (when the average price of gas was at the same level it is today), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) offered legislation to improve the FTC’s ability to protect consumers from price gouging. Cantwell tried to pass the legislation again in November but failed to attract sufficient bipartisan support, and has recently tried again to solicit Bush’s support. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) has led a similar effort in the House. Also last September, Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced a bill that would have given federal authorities power to prosecute oil and gasoline suppliers who overcharge for motor fuels in a declared disaster area. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) has introduced similar legislation in the House. The leadership in Congress refused to endorse or improve upon these recommendations until recently. “Feeling the political heat,” Frist and Hastert have finally decided to take some action by sending a letter to Bush.
Dems are also unveiling a few other ideas as an alternative to Bush’s new-found interest in gas prices.
Democrats are set to introduce a measure that would create a “federal gas tax holiday” by eliminating the federal tax on gas and diesel for sixty days, RAW STORY has learned.
The measure, proposed by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), would reduce the cost of gas by $0.184 per gallon and the cost of diesel by $0.244 per gallon. The move, aides say, will provide $100 million dollars per day in relief. Democrats say the money will be made up by cutting six billion dollars in tax breaks to oil firms.
Chuck Schumer is thinking even bigger.
In a speech today on the Senate floor, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) proposed considering the breakup of oil firms.
“We also have to reexamine whether having only a handful of giant oil companies can coexist with the needs of the American consumer and a rational energy policy in this country — I do not believe it does,” Schumer declared. “And so I’ll be offering an amendment to the supplemental that will require a complete examination as to whether or not we should break up the big oil companies.”
“Enough is enough,” the New York senator added. “We have no competition. There are signs of it. I’ve talked to business leaders who buy oil and gas products, major, conservative Republican business leaders, and they don’t believe the market is on the level.”
I’m not at all convinced any of the various ideas will a) become law; and b) be effective, but I can almost guarantee that we’re about to see a political circus of stunning proportions.
Just as an aside, I wanted to add that, so far, my single favorite quote on this comes by way of Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), who said, “Democrats have decided to play partisan politics with gas prices in a flailing attempt to distract from the growing economy.” Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.
