Blessedhope777
August 2nd, 2008, 02:57 PM
This analysis is from a friend's brother who works at a brokerage firm. Any comments?
Pelosi's Energy Stonewall
August 1, 2008
Hell -- otherwise known as Congress -- has officially frozen over. For the
first time since the 1950s, Members will skip town today for the August
recess without either chamber having passed a single appropriations bill.
Then again, Democrats appear ready to sacrifice their whole agenda, even
spending, rather than allow new domestic energy production.
Or even a mere debate about energy. The Democratic leadership is
stonewalling any measure that might possibly relax the Congressional ban on
offshore drilling. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid know that they would lose if
a vote ever came to the floor, and they're desperate to suppress an
insurrection among those Democrats who are pragmatic about one of the top
economic issues. Behind this whatever-it-takes obstructionism is an
ideological commitment to high energy prices. The rulers of the Democratic
Party want prices to keep rising.
A good gauge of the radicalism of their energy blockade is the lowest common
denominator of this energy fight: The effort to blame "speculators" for $4
gas was promoted by both Barack Obama and John McCain, as well as nearly
everybody else in Washington. Sure enough, the House voted 276-151 on
Wednesday for a bill that would have driven oil futures trading overseas.
But the legislation actually failed to become law -- by design. It needed a
two-thirds majority because Speaker Pelosi suspended the rules to prevent
Republicans from offering amendments, drilling among them. Ms. Pelosi had
decreed that she would not permit a roll-call vote under any circumstances,
even if it stopped her own goal of wrecking the U.S. futures market.
Meanwhile, the Senate is locked down over its own antispeculation bill.
Majority Leader Reid briefly agreed to allow four amendments on GOP policy
alternatives, but he withdrew the offer after he was subjected to the fury
of the environmental lobby and Ms. Pelosi. To prevent a vote on offshore
drilling this week, Senate Democrats also let fail a bill providing home
heating assistance for the poor. Same thing for tax subsidies for wind and
solar energy.
Other liberal inspirations, including suing OPEC and a windfall profits tax
on the oil industry, also ended up in the Congressional dumpster. And of
course Democrats long ago shut down the normal budget process in both the
Senate and the House to avoid any vote.
Normally, the spending hiatus would be a useful byproduct of Congressional
bickering. But in this case the shutdown is malign neglect. Surging energy
prices act like a huge tax increase on the economy, since energy demand is
relatively fixed over the short term. The price spike is imposing genuine
hardships on middle-income and working-class voters across the country.
The Democratic leadership isn't oblivious to this man-at-the-pump reality.
But Al Gore's vision of the apocalyptic tides of climate change perfectly
expresses their mentality: Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid see soaring prices as a
public good -- the mechanism that will force energy enlightenment on the
U.S. If anything, they think the price of gas is too low. As recently as
June, the Senate debated a multitrillion-dollar carbon tax-and-regulation
scheme that was designed to boost energy costs. A new version will be a
priority in the next Administration.
If nothing else, this summer's oil drilling stonewall is giving voters an
insight into this ideology, which recoils at any oil, natural gas or coal
production -- oh, and nuclear besides. That puts 93% of all U.S. energy off
limits for expansion. Back in the real world, and barring a cold fusion or
other miracle, the U.S. will remain dependent on fossil fuels for decades. A
fresh round of domestic oil-and-gas exploration would ease the long-term
pressures that supply and demand are exerting on prices, plus bolster energy
security.
And those not bound by anticarbon theology are coming around. Broad margins
of the American public -- now even a slim majority of Californians -- favor
increasing domestic production. Many Congressional Democrats are working
below the radar to craft a compromise that couples drilling with
conservation and programs to prop up renewable alternatives.
But the leadership won't bend even a bit, and so Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid
have spent the summer using every parliamentary deception to evade debating
the issue that the American public cares most about. Short of cutting off
the air conditioning on Capitol Hill, Democrats won't get the message until
voters make them -- perhaps in November.
Pelosi's Energy Stonewall
August 1, 2008
Hell -- otherwise known as Congress -- has officially frozen over. For the
first time since the 1950s, Members will skip town today for the August
recess without either chamber having passed a single appropriations bill.
Then again, Democrats appear ready to sacrifice their whole agenda, even
spending, rather than allow new domestic energy production.
Or even a mere debate about energy. The Democratic leadership is
stonewalling any measure that might possibly relax the Congressional ban on
offshore drilling. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid know that they would lose if
a vote ever came to the floor, and they're desperate to suppress an
insurrection among those Democrats who are pragmatic about one of the top
economic issues. Behind this whatever-it-takes obstructionism is an
ideological commitment to high energy prices. The rulers of the Democratic
Party want prices to keep rising.
A good gauge of the radicalism of their energy blockade is the lowest common
denominator of this energy fight: The effort to blame "speculators" for $4
gas was promoted by both Barack Obama and John McCain, as well as nearly
everybody else in Washington. Sure enough, the House voted 276-151 on
Wednesday for a bill that would have driven oil futures trading overseas.
But the legislation actually failed to become law -- by design. It needed a
two-thirds majority because Speaker Pelosi suspended the rules to prevent
Republicans from offering amendments, drilling among them. Ms. Pelosi had
decreed that she would not permit a roll-call vote under any circumstances,
even if it stopped her own goal of wrecking the U.S. futures market.
Meanwhile, the Senate is locked down over its own antispeculation bill.
Majority Leader Reid briefly agreed to allow four amendments on GOP policy
alternatives, but he withdrew the offer after he was subjected to the fury
of the environmental lobby and Ms. Pelosi. To prevent a vote on offshore
drilling this week, Senate Democrats also let fail a bill providing home
heating assistance for the poor. Same thing for tax subsidies for wind and
solar energy.
Other liberal inspirations, including suing OPEC and a windfall profits tax
on the oil industry, also ended up in the Congressional dumpster. And of
course Democrats long ago shut down the normal budget process in both the
Senate and the House to avoid any vote.
Normally, the spending hiatus would be a useful byproduct of Congressional
bickering. But in this case the shutdown is malign neglect. Surging energy
prices act like a huge tax increase on the economy, since energy demand is
relatively fixed over the short term. The price spike is imposing genuine
hardships on middle-income and working-class voters across the country.
The Democratic leadership isn't oblivious to this man-at-the-pump reality.
But Al Gore's vision of the apocalyptic tides of climate change perfectly
expresses their mentality: Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid see soaring prices as a
public good -- the mechanism that will force energy enlightenment on the
U.S. If anything, they think the price of gas is too low. As recently as
June, the Senate debated a multitrillion-dollar carbon tax-and-regulation
scheme that was designed to boost energy costs. A new version will be a
priority in the next Administration.
If nothing else, this summer's oil drilling stonewall is giving voters an
insight into this ideology, which recoils at any oil, natural gas or coal
production -- oh, and nuclear besides. That puts 93% of all U.S. energy off
limits for expansion. Back in the real world, and barring a cold fusion or
other miracle, the U.S. will remain dependent on fossil fuels for decades. A
fresh round of domestic oil-and-gas exploration would ease the long-term
pressures that supply and demand are exerting on prices, plus bolster energy
security.
And those not bound by anticarbon theology are coming around. Broad margins
of the American public -- now even a slim majority of Californians -- favor
increasing domestic production. Many Congressional Democrats are working
below the radar to craft a compromise that couples drilling with
conservation and programs to prop up renewable alternatives.
But the leadership won't bend even a bit, and so Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid
have spent the summer using every parliamentary deception to evade debating
the issue that the American public cares most about. Short of cutting off
the air conditioning on Capitol Hill, Democrats won't get the message until
voters make them -- perhaps in November.