Posted on 07/30/2008 10:16:18 PM PDT by Libloather
The LIHEAP lie: Harry Reid's slick trick
Wednesday, Jul. 30, 2008
In June, Sen. Judd Gregg co-sponsored legislation to double funding for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). It has been reported that on Saturday, Gregg voted against his own bill. Not true. Here is what happened.
On Tuesday, Republicans voted with Democrats to open debate on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act. To avoid a vote on offshore drilling, Reid refused to allow any amendments to the bill. Republicans, holding out for amendments, offered to allow a vote on the LIHEAP bill if Reid allowed amendments to the speculation bill. Reid said no.
Then on Saturday, Reid tried to call a vote on the LIHEAP bill without allowing amendments to it, either. Had the Senate approved that procedural move, every attempt to address high oil and gas prices would have been removed from consideration indefinitely. The bill addressing those issues would be off the floor, and only Reid could bring it back.
Gregg voted with most other Republicans against bumping the LIHEAP bill ahead of the speculation bill. (Sen. John Sununu voted for the move.) Senate Democrats and their allies in the press have portrayed this vote as GOP opposition to the LIHEAP bill. That is false. The vote was not against the bill, which Republicans had already offered to bring to a vote. It was against Reid's motion for an immediate vote with no amendments. The bill remains on the Senate calendar.
The Senate schedule reveals the truth. The LIHEAP bill was introduced on June 24. The speculation bill was introduced on July 15. If the LIHEAP bill is so urgently needed, as Democrats claim, why did Reid wait more than a month to schedule it for a vote? And why did he schedule the speculation bill -- introduced 21 days later -- for a vote before it?
Clearly, Reid timed these votes for political effect. It was a slick trick to make Republicans appear opposed to LIHEAP, and The New York Times, among others, fell for it. On Monday, The New York Times' editorial board asked, "What's the matter with New Hampshire?" The Times' uninformed editorial writers criticized Gregg for his Saturday vote and wrote that "the energy-assistance bill failed 50-35."
No, it didn't. The move to bump it ahead of the speculation bill failed 50-35. The bill remains alive. And Gregg was one of the senators who had offered to vote on it earlier in the week if Reid had allowed votes on amendments.
After wrongly portraying the LIHEAP bill as dead, the Times' writers wrongly portrayed Gregg as opposed to expanding the program's funding, writing, "What are the state's voters thinking, sending a senator to Washington who is working to ensure that they or their neighbors won't be able to afford to turn on the heat this winter?"
The Times owes Judd Gregg an apology. He did not vote against the LIHEAP bill -- which he co-sponsored! He voted to stick to the Senate schedule Reid had set.
Gregg voted that way to pressure Reid into allowing amendments to both bills. And guess what? It worked. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Reid has "offered to bend to Republican demands" to allow some amendments to the speculation bill. So thanks to Judd Gregg and other Republicans, we might actually get a vote on offshore drilling, nuclear power and other measures to lower energy prices before the summer ends.
And, we'll still get a vote on the LIHEAP bill, provided Sen. Reid sees fit to bring it up.
Nice work, Judd.
I dont think the NY Slimes "fell for it. It's just more accurate to say:
The New York Times, among others, colluded with Harry Reid in lying to the American public.
As to New Hampshire “daring” to send a Senator to Washington who votes against Dem shenanigans? How dare the New York Slimes support Democrats who would see ALL Americans without, not only heating oil, but diesel and gasoline!! I realize this is not the first time disingenuity has ruled their editorial pages, but the Slimes is waaaay out of line calling anyone else's kettle black——they better first look at their own pot!
Can’t let the rats keep the majority.
Harry should be more careful about having his name, and LI HEAP, in the same headline.
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