Perhaps we should exchange Senator Lincoln Chafee for Suzy "Suzy Chapstick" Chaffee instead. She was a professional skier, but she would probably do as good a job legislating as the critters currently in Washington, D.C.
~ Blue Jays ~
Posted on 10/28/2005 3:36:20 PM PDT by prairiebreeze
Senate Democrats, sensing what they hope will be an opportunity to blame Republicans for the high price of gasoline, voted in unison Wednesday in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to help defeat a bill that would have streamlined the building of new refineries.
The eight committee Democrats won over liberal Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.-R.I.), whose vote against Chairman Jim Inhofe’s Gas PRICE Act (S 1772) means Republicans will have to take other steps if they want to push a refinery bill through the Senate this year.
Inhofe (R.-Okla.) told HUMAN EVENTS he pleaded with Chafee to vote with the committee’s nine other Republicans on the measure because Democrats were opposing the bill for purely partisan reasons. In the end, however, Chafee sided with Democrats.
“I went to Lincoln Chafee,” Inhofe told HUMAN EVENTS in an exclusive interview, “and I said, ‘Lincoln, I know you’re from Rhode Island, and I know from time to time you have to cave in to these people because you’re in a tight election, but their motivation is to blame Republicans for something the Republicans didn’t do, and you’re a Republican.’”
Inhofe added: “In the next election, high gas prices will be one of the Democrats’ big campaign issues.”
Chafee’s spokesman, Stephen Hourahan, said the senator voted against the bill because he believed it weakened environmental standards, and didn’t address alternative fuels and fuel-economy standards. Despite these objections, Chafee offered no amendments.
Democrat Demagoguery
Environmentalists opposed Inhofe’s bill for its provisions to expand refinery capacity, streamline refinery permitting and simplify so-called boutique fuel requirements. It also would have provided federal assistance for the construction of refineries on closed military bases, which could have been producing gas in about two years, Inhofe said.
But with Republicans unable to corral Chafee, Inhofe said the GOP reached out to three committee Democrats—Senators Max Baucus (Mont.), Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.)—all of whom faced pressure from home-state industries to vote in favor of the bill. Not one switched sides, however, resulting in a 9-to-9 stalemate on the bill.
Democrats, Inhofe said, are employing a strategy to defeat any measure that might reduce the cost of gasoline.
“The Democrats are all going to vote against it for one reason,” Inhofe said Tuesday as he scrambled to find one more supporter on his committee. “They want to make sure nothing happens to bring the price of gasoline at the pumps down, because that’s the issue they want to use for the elections next year.”
Inhofe said his measure was just one example. In the House, Rep. Joe Barton (R.-Tex.) barely won passage of a bill that encourages refinery construction. Not one House Democrat voted for the bill, which barely passed, 212-210, after arm-twisting several GOP moderates.
Inhofe’s observation about Democrats was confirmed Thursday when Senators Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.), Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D.-Mich.), Mark Dayton (D.-Minn.) and Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.) engaged in demagoguery, accusing oil companies of raking in huge profits with little regard for the impact on consumers’ wallets. Democrats made the same arguments a day before at the committee meeting.
But regardless of the Democrats’ over-arching political strategy, it was Chafee’s vote that ultimately sank the bill. It was the second time this year Chafee’s opposition to a GOP-backed measure—he voted against President Bush’s “Clear Skies” air-quality bill—resulted in a deadlocked vote.
Hourahan, the senator’s spokesman, said Chafee was balancing the needs of his state when he cast his “no” vote on the Gas PRICE Act. Rhode Island has two shuttered military bases that could be used, although Hourahan said local opposition to such a plan was strong.
Even though Chafee is facing a Republican primary challenge, his opponent, former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey, has actually been running a populist-themed campaign. Laffey, whose spokeswoman didn’t return calls to HUMAN EVENTS, recently attacked oil companies for their huge profits.
“[Chafee] is a Republican who is running in the most Democrat state in the country,” Hourahan said. “Rhode Island is a very environmentally sensitive state, and we have people there who clearly would not have appreciated it if the senator had voted for this bill, which would have allowed two sites in Rhode Island to potentially have a refinery.”
Inhofe said Chafee had no excuse to oppose the bill.
“He sweats a lot,” Inhofe told HUMAN EVENTS. “He said, ‘I just can’t do that. I have to win that election. Right now I have a perfect record with the environmentalists.’ And I said, ‘This is different. This is Democrat vs. Republican. It has nothing to do with the environmentalists.’”
bump
The missing Linc has a primary opponent http://www.electlaffey.com/site/index.php
He did see it. He is anti Bush, and dwould probably like to pull a Jeffords.
Lincoln Chaffee is one of the Senators that Bush is BACKING for reelection...
Please, President Bush...this is another "harriet miers" for you....SMACK HIM!!!
Laffey is hated by the Teacher's Union!
The only way you have a "job" in R.I. is if you are "related" or "Connected"!
There are very few private sector jobs in this state unless they are held by immigrants or welfare suckers!
The state should be abolished! They are all more brainwashed than in Boston.
Life and prosperity for RI residents depend on the State Gov't which sucks off of the teat of you guessed it!
The Federal Gov't !
RHODE ISLAND IS THE NORTHEAST'S LOUISIANA!
The other day I was lamenting the 25+ years of no refineries being built and the guy I was talking to pointed out what I should of known. We don't need to build any more refineries. We have 3 in central Jersey that are intack but have been mothballed.
Hess, Amoco and Chevron have refineries in Carteret, NJ that could be brought back into production. Seems it would be easier to do this than build some new production.
lol!
I can't wait for my next Rhode Island trip, for I will be assisting the Laffey campaign, no doubt
Perhaps we should exchange Senator Lincoln Chafee for Suzy "Suzy Chapstick" Chaffee instead. She was a professional skier, but she would probably do as good a job legislating as the critters currently in Washington, D.C.
~ Blue Jays ~
And the freepers scream "WELL BE IN THE MINORITY" never realizing that we already are.
Well, as a Sooner born, Sooner bred, and when I die I'll be a Sooner dead, I take substantial umbrage at this statement.
Inhofe is a straight shooter, something evidently not understood in either the east or west coasts. Sure he's a former oilman. But he's absolutely right. We're going to have to build more refineries and gasoline plants or make a huge, impossibly sudden shift to nuclear power. Inhofe knows this. Chafee doesn't. He simply shakes in his boots when environmental nuts start their incessant whines.
Hick? I give you Lincoln Chaffee. And Jumpin' Jeffords. And most of the east and west coast RINO's.
"The dems feared this bill very much so because it would have elminated a campaign issue. Why cant Chaffee see that?"
Because the thirst for power is greater then the love of this country. Unfortunately, many people feel this way to put their own lusts ahead of their fellow neighbor.
"Inhofe is a straight shooter, something evidently not understood in either the east or west coasts."
I agree. One of the very few members of government that stands up for the countries best interest, not his own. That is why he generally disliked in Washington, people want to hang onto power at any cost.
Why did he just get a million bucks fron the pubs?
You're crazy. McCain is on our side on virtually every big issue. From the WOT to spending to Iraq. He's got an 86 from the ACU. Chafee has a 41.
He differs on minor issues like global warming and CFR. If you would trade those for the WOT, you're nuts.
McCain might not be your favorite Senator, but he's definately a friend. "A person who agrees with me 70% of the time is not my enemy." - Ronald Reagan
Bush family has been beeeeg in oil, it wont happen. Lot of talk no action.
this is why government shouldn't be in charge of energy policy.
Amazing that solons Inhofe, Demint, Murkowski, Voinovich, Isakson, Thune and Bond only came up with this bright idea after a couple of big gusts o'wind, namely Katrina and Rita, paid a visit to the Gulf of Mexico.
Too bad they've not the motivation to do likewise regarding nuclear power, or even drilling in that very small area of a very desolate part of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Then again, that would actually take some probity and upstandingness, something the majority of pols regretfully lack.
By the way, anyone else see the irony in having Murkowski as a co-sponsor?
Imhoff gets it.
"Democrats were opposing the bill for purely partisan reasons"
Schwarzenneger gets it.
"I want to move things forward, and to them, it works like - they want to destroy me," Schwarzenegger said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. "It's a self-serving government that's all about them rather than serving the people, and it's wrong."
Delay gets it.
The rinos are just a little slow to get it.
This is a war. The democrats lost in 2000, 2002, 2004 and now see a scorched earth policy as the only way to win. Their goal is to destroy the US and blame it on the republicans.
The rinos are ladies and gentlemen and can not believe that people would do this.
I'm hoping the rinos wise up to what is happening and that includes Bush 41.
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