US News
Congress restarts heated debate on energy
Sep 17, 2008, 14:11 GMT
Washington - US lawmakers revived a stalled debate about energy on Tuesday and considered comprehensive legislation that would expand oil drilling off US coasts while boosting investment in alternative fuels.
Majority Democrats introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that was touted as a compromise. It allows limited new offshore drilling and offers tax incentives for renewable energy by repealing tax credits for major oil companies.
But on what has been the major sticking point for weeks, minority Republicans in Congress said it did not go nearly far enough in allowing oil companies to drill offshore.
Democrats had supported a long-standing federal moratorium on offshore drilling but caved in, amid surging petrol prices that have made new offshore drilling political popular. The bill only allows drilling between 80 and 160 kilometres off US coasts - a nod to concerns about oil exploration's potential environmental impact.
'Republicans must set aside their drill-only mentality and embrace the provisions of this legislation, which is balanced, which is comprehensive,' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of the centre-left Democrats in the lower chamber, told reporters.
Environmental groups slammed the legislation as a capitulation to big oil companies that fails to wean the US economy from its dependence on imported, climate-changing fossil fuels.
We want Congress to make sure that Big Oil doesn't continue to load us up with dirty energy that overshadows the clean, renewable, homegrown solutions Americans need,' Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
The upper Senate could take up its own version of the energy bill later this week.
Time is running short for an immediate solution. Congress adjourns on September 26 until after the November 4 presidential elections.
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Members of Congress returned to Capitol Hill this week for what will be their final three weeks of work before Election Day. And while both parties are accusing the other of blocking critical legislation, the session ahead is likely to create nothing more than further finger-pointing and accusations of who is to blame for a do-nothing Congress.
From energy legislation to a second economic stimulus package, both parties could score big political victories over the coming weeks. Instead, each party will use the other's inaction and reluctance to negotiate as excuses to hammer the other over the head.
Asked in a interview what he hoped would be accomplished in the coming weeks, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was pessimistic.
'This has been a Congress almost entirely without accomplishment,' Mr. McConnell said. 'It currently suffers from a 14% approval rating, and I think it's earned it.' Quizzed about what will happen over the next three weeks, McConnell was blunt: 'I would conclude darn little.'
The Democratic Congress, Mr. McConnell asserted, has been ineffective 'simply because they have no interest in accomplishment. It's just been one box-checking partisan exercise after another.' A frustrated Mr. Reid instead blames Republican obstructionism. 'I don't know why they've done what they've done,' he said.
Not that members of both parties won't try, and the issue atop many voters' minds is the same as that atop members' to-do lists. After avoiding several votes on allowing new energy exploration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bring an energy plan to the floor and, Republicans hope, allow votes on new drilling opportunities on the Outer-Continental Shelf and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Now, House Minority Leader John Boehner, backed by virtually the entire GOP conference, is continuing to push his own energy plan, which includes funding for the next generation of biofuels, a renewed focus on nuclear and clean coal technologies and on lifting a ban on oil shale development. 'We think we need to do all of the above, from conservation to drilling,' Mr. Boehner told Real Clear Politics. 'That's where all of our energy should be focused.'
Ms. Pelosi's quasi energy compromise will allow some votes on both new oil exploration and on other options, according to spokesman Brendan Daly. 'We're giving them a vote on drilling,' he said. But 'as part of a bigger bill, you've got to talk about renewables.'
That hasn't always been Ms. Pelosi's stand, but after significant pressure from her own caucus,and the American people, the Speaker is now willing to allow new votes. Democratic incumbents and candidates alike, led by endangered Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire and Louisiana Rep. Don Cazayoux, have begun calling on Ms. Pelosi to allow the votes. Pressure has grown so much on Congress to get something done that even Democraric Rep. Mark Udall, a solid environmentalist, has played up his support for some drilling on the Outer-Continental Shelf in his race for Senate in Colorado.
Republicans are pessimistic that they will have the chance to vote on every option they want. 'Whether it's a credible proposal that genuinely allows more American energy production, both onshore and offshore, remains to be seen,' Mr. McConnell said.
But comprehensive energy legislation takes time, and though it will be debated in the House tomorrow, it will take time to make it through the Senate. And given the way Republicans have held up some pieces of legislation this year, anything less than a perfect bill could meet fierce resistance.
Even if it does make it to the upper chamber in a manner acceptable to majority Democrats and enough Republicans willing to vote in favor of cutting off debate, the Senate is planning to adjourn in early October. The House is scheduled to finish September 26, though Mr. Daly said they may be in session longer. So far, Ms. Pelosi's spokesman said, there are no plans for a post-election lame duck session of Congress.
The compressed schedule and the level of partisan bickering has made leaders of both parties pessimistic about the chances of getting real legislation passed. Mr. McConnell, 'I'd be surprised if this Congress that's been doing nothing for a year and a half suddenly started doing important things.'
Hodes Ducks for Political Cover Behind Dems’ Sham 'Energy' Bill
September 17, 2008 - 11:59am
Washington- Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH) struck a political low-note for what may be his short-lived career in Congress as he voted against a bi-partisan compromise to address America’s energy crisis (House Roll Call 598). Instead, Hodes voted to pass a sham energy bill designed as “an elaborate exercise to give their Members a heaping dose of political cover” (Roll Call 9/15/08) (House Roll Call 599).
The sham bill that Hodes decided to vote for has been called “just a political stunt half-measure,” (Belleville News Democrat Editorial, 9/16/08) because it was written by Democrat leaders in the middle of the night, and didn’t allow one single amendment to be offered:
“When they took the majority, House Democrats proclaimed that ‘bills should generally come to the floor under a procedure that allows open, full and fair debate consisting of a full amendment process that grants the Minority the right to offer its alternatives.’ Why not on drilling?” (Washington Post Editorial, 7/25/08)
At a time when nearly 80 percent of Americans have asked members like Hodes to increase America’s domestic energy supply, he shamelessly put his party’s wishes over his constituents’ needs and supported this deeply flawed proposal. Even fellow Democrat Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) said “I wouldn't vote for it.... We are for the revenue sharing. We can work this out. The American people will blame all of us. ...they're going to blame Congress, because they want energy independence, we have to have it.”
It is now clearer than ever, that Paul Hodes and the Democrat-led Congress never had any intention of enacting real energy policies, because Hodes voted for a bill that according to Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), “most certainly won't see the light of day in the Senate”:
“Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., on Friday urged House members to oppose a House Democratic leadership bill because it does not include revenue-sharing provisions for states that accept drilling off their coasts.” (The Times-Picayune, 9/13/08).
Paul Hodes forfeited any argument that this bill wasn’t derived solely for a political purpose when it was revealed that Democrats snuck in a two billion dollar earmark for ethically-embattled New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, yet refused to include revenue-sharing for states that would allow drilling off their shores.
“Paul Hodes' vote to cut off access to offshore drilling will have a negative impact on our nation’s energy needs for decades to come,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain. “Now, it is New Hampshire families that are stuck with the consequences of Paul Hodes' failure to deliver relief from America’s energy crisis.”
Hodes spent months blocking real, comprehensive energy solutions, and came under heavy criticism in his district this summer for doing nothing to address the energy crisis. But, only now, as Hodes is facing political fallout heading toward Election Day, did he and his Democrat leaders decide to introduce a sham “energy” bill. Paul Hodes should be ashamed of himself for playing political games with our nation’s energy security
h**p://www.politickernh.com/brianlawson/3646/hodes-ducks-political-cove r-behind-dems-sham-energy-bill
Now that a right wing government has seen the light of socialism and nationalised AIG, perhaps they should consider doing the same for the oil companies ?
..that'd be fine except for two glaring reasons:
1) the oil companies are not bleeding cash like they were hit with a 12 gauge. In addition, most of the domestic oil supply IS on federal land, a fact that makes exploration almost impossible. That being the case, it is the government that is hurting us, not the oil company.
2)Fannie Mae is the closest thing to a nationalized company America has i.e. public chartering, not AIG, and it was the government who aided their demise, by not providing any oversight.
Honestly, William, I just wish the government would quit being so good to us!
The White House says the do nothing House bill that would allow more offshore oil drilling showed a 'lack of seriousness.'
The administration accused House Democrats of lacing the bill with 'poison pills' that demonstrate a 'lack of seriousness about expanding access to the vast domestic energy resources' off U.S. coasts.
President Bush and Democrats have been tangling for months over drilling offshore in an area known as the outer continental shelf, which had been placed off-limits both by do nothing Congress and an old executive order for decades. Bush lifted the executive order this summer as oil prices shot up and gas prices reached record levels at the pump.
He called on Congress to lift its ban.
The House bill passed by a vote of 236-189. After months of resisting pressure to allow oil and gas exploration off America's coasts, the Democrats yielded and included provisions to allow more offshore drilling.
But the legislation includes a number of provisions Americans do not like, including a lack of incentive for states to allow drilling off their shores, along with special earmarks for Charles Rangel (D), and limits on where to dril.
'Many of the other provisions contained in this bill are taken from other House bills that failed to pass through the do nothing Congress, or have been subject to veto threats,' the Executive Office of the President said in a statement Tuesday night as the House voted on the bill, officially known as House Resolution 6899.
'If H.R. 6899 were presented to the president, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill,' the White House said.
Bush may never have the chance. The do nothing Senate is unlikely to take up an energy bill before next week or this year, as it is unclear whether there is enough time left in this Congress after vacations, for the two houses to hammer out a mutually acceptable compromise to send to the president.
The bill would allow drilling between 50 and 100 miles offshore, as opposed to the 3-mile line favored by Republicans. It would require states to give their permission for drilling off their shores. It also would include incentives for renewables, require the government to release oil from its emergency reserve and force oil companies to drill on federal areas they already lease from the government.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, said before the vote that the Democratic bill was 'a charade,' denying it would do what its backers claim.
Thought there would be something said here?
Why they haven't drilled on the 600 million acres of oil reserves that they already have drilling permits for?
Could it be that asking them that question doesn't give you the same thrill you get from blaming everything on the Dems?
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SP4:only one thing you need to knowSep 17th, 2008 - 16:00:05
no real domestic oil recovery will happen under Obama
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