Shortly before breaking for the August recess, Congress approved a sweeping energy bill crafted by the White House. The legislation was hardly a step in the right direction — the bill, by its sponsors own admission, does nothing to address energy prices or reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. What’s worse, the Bush-backed energy bill lavished the already-ridiculously-profitable oil industry with lucrative new subsidies.
Just a month later, with devastation on the Gulf Coast on everyone’s mind, Congress is apparently poised to do the whole energy-bill thing over again.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told members of the Republican Conference yesterday that GOP leaders are seriously considering writing a sweeping new energy bill in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
During House Republicans’ weekly closed-door meeting, DeLay said leaders are weighing such a move, according to a leadership aide who attended. DeLay indicated that the bill would include a number of provisions that were jettisoned from earlier energy legislation passed before Congress left for the August recess, but he did not provide many other details.
So, what would the new bill do that the recently-signed old bill didn’t? New conservation efforts, perhaps? Broader investment in new technologies and research-and-development initiatives? Of course not. Energy Bill II would emphasize drilling and more subsidies.
To fix an energy model that Barton said is stuck in the 1970s, [Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee] recommended drilling in Alaska and in coastal states where offshore drilling currently is banned…. Other Republicans used the hearing to call for the building of more oil refineries across the country.
Politically, Republicans might want to be careful on this one, because while the GOP is talking about drilling and subsidies, Dems are focusing on oil companies — and right now, the public really hates the oil companies.
“Some Republicans say that the answer is more subsidies to industry,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). “We need conservation, fuel efficiency, not another round of industry handouts.”
Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.), meanwhile, argued that the committee needs to take a serious look at how to deter and punish those who gouge consumers with high gas prices.
“Americans are rightfully mad as hell” at the skyrocketing gas prices, agreed Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.). “We are not going to take it anymore.”
Others, such as Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), called for a committee investigation into why gas prices continued to rise while gas companies were already reaching record revenues.
In response, Red Cavaney, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said, presumably with a straight face, “Many industries earned better returns in the second quarter than the oil and natural-gas companies.”
Yeah, America’s heart really bleeds for the poor oil industry. It has record profits, just got a bundle of new subsidies from Republican lawmakers and the president, but when faced with Dem criticism, the industry wants us to know that there are other industries out there with even better profits than theirs.
The next time you’re filling up the tank, remember Cavaney’s quote — and then remember which party in DC is doing his bidding.