The So-Called President Makes More Lame Excuses
- From: Too_Many_Tools <too_many_tools@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:39:46 -0700 (PDT)
Notice how Republicans who still want to keep their jobs are now
saying "No" to George the Village Idiot.
President Repeats First-Term Answers to Rising Gas Prices
By Dan Eggen and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 30, 2008; A04
Soaring gasoline prices spilled over into Washington and the
presidential race yesterday, as Congress moved toward a showdown with
President Bush over legislation aimed at forcing oil companies to help
ease the burden on consumers.
Bush, reaching back to the earliest days of his administration,
resurrected GOP demands for new drilling in the Alaska wilderness,
fewer restrictions on oil refineries and other measures aimed at
lowering fuel prices through higher production.
Democratic leaders shot back that Bush is out of touch with struggling
Americans, as he pours money into the Iraq war at the expense of
domestic priorities. Senate leaders promised to unveil gasoline price
legislation by week's end.
Two oil giants, BP and Royal Dutch Shell, announced record profits
yesterday totaling $17 billion in the first three months of the year.
Exxon Mobil is expected to smash its own previous records for
quarterly corporate profits tomorrow. Average gasoline prices,
meanwhile, have surged to a new high of $3.60 per gallon.
On the presidential campaign trail, GOP candidate John McCain (Ariz.)
and Democratic hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) have both
backed the idea of a summer tax holiday for gasoline and diesel. Sen.
Barack Obama (D-Ill.) denounced the idea as a political gimmick that
would cost thousands of jobs and save drivers $28 at most.
Bush declined to take a position on the concept of a gas tax holiday,
saying he was "open to any ideas" to deal with rising fuel prices. But
in a news conference in the Rose Garden, he focused on controversial,
longer-term proposals aimed at loosening environmental or regulatory
restrictions on domestic oil exploration and production, and he also
advocated building additional nuclear plants.
"If there was a magic wand to wave," Bush said, "I'd be waving it, of
course. . . . But there is no magic wand to wave right now. It took us
a while to get to this fix."
Although oil-related proposals were at the center of his remarks, Bush
also offered a broader critique of congressional inaction, arguing
that Democrats have worsened the nation's economic problems by
opposing his housing reforms, a Colombia free-trade agreement and
other proposals.
Many of Bush's oil-related proposals date back to his first term,
however, and failed to gain traction even when Congress was under GOP
control. His remarks underscored his difficult political predicament,
as he is hobbled by dismal approval ratings and overshadowed by a
lively presidential campaign.
Indeed, many lawmakers signaled yesterday that they would pay little
heed to the president's criticisms, particularly on oil. Sen. Amy
Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that "people don't have time for finger-
pointing from the White House right now.
"They have listened to this president for eight years, for eight years
that these gas prices have gone up and up and up, for eight years
after these oil prices have gone up and up and up, and they want
answers," Klobuchar said.
In some respects, the parties' responses to rising oil prices have
become a rite of spring. Prices at the pump surge as energy companies
switch from winter gasoline blends to summer blends, creating
shortages of refinery capacity. Democrats reproach oil companies for
"price gouging" and call for federal investigations and windfall
profit taxes. Republicans call for drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge and outer continental shelf, off the Gulf and Pacific
coasts. Both parties blame the other.
"Only President Bush could allow Big Oil to write our nation's energy
policy," said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) responded, "It's clear
that, on the production side of the equation, this new majority is not
interested in doing anything."
But this year feels different, said Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.),
who has been involved in energy policy for decades. Prices are much
higher than those that usually follow normal spring spikes, and with
rising international demand, there is no sign that prices will fall
significantly.
Much of the Senate legislation in the works is likely to fall victim
to partisan bickering. Democrats are likely to call for price-gouging
investigations and will try to roll back tax subsidies approved in
2005 for the oil companies to pay for tax relief to consumers. Barbara
Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee, called yesterday for the sale of oil from the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve, a 700 million-barrel emergency stockpile of crude
oil that is equivalent to nearly two months' worth of U.S. petroleum
imports. None of those ideas is likely to get past a Republican
filibuster, let alone a presidential veto.
Other measures, however, are gaining bipartisan support. Sen. Byron L.
Dorgan (D-N.D.) announced yesterday that he now has a veto-proof
margin -- 49 Democrats, two Independents and at least 16 Republicans
-- to pass legislation that would temporarily halt purchases for the
petroleum reserve, asserting that such a move could have a dampening
impact on oil prices.
"With the high gas prices, if we could even have an effect on the
futures and the hedgers market in this area, that it would be a
positive step," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), usually a
stalwart Bush ally. "So I have said that I think, maybe, a pause, now,
and then look at it in a month or two."
Bush said he was opposed to the idea, however, arguing that the
stockpile might be necessary in case of a terrorist attack on oil
facilities and that halting contributions would have little impact on
gasoline prices. "On a cost-benefit analysis, I don't think you get
any benefits," he said.
Bush also pointed to a lack of U.S. oil refinery capacity, saying that
no new refinery has been built for 30 years. Refinery capacity has
been a problem in the oil industry and was blamed for driving up
prices, especially in 2006-2007. But oil companies have been expanding
existing refineries, boosting U.S. capacity by 2 million barrels a day
since 1985, to 17.6 million barrels a day. Refined imports from the
Middle East and Europe make up the difference.
With the economy teetering, some Republicans are also bucking Bush's
demands -- repeated yesterday -- that an upcoming war spending bill
stick to his $108 billion request, with no additional funding for
domestic priorities, such as an extension of unemployment insurance
and additional education benefits for returning war veterans.
On another oil-related complaint from lawmakers, Defense Secretary
Robert M. Gates this week agreed to cut $171 million in Iraq funding
that had been designated for neighborhood police stations, according
to a letter to Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee. Many Democrats have complained that Iraq
should pay for more of its own security costs because of significant
budget surpluses.
Staff writers Karen DeYoung and Steven Mufson contributed to this
report.
.
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