Posted on 09/09/2008 7:12:17 PM PDT by Kaslin
Energy: Some GOP senators allied with Democrats are peddling a "drilling" bill that actually adds exploration restrictions, raises taxes and may even end up meaning no new domestic oil. Some Republicans never learn.
We saw it last year when Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska were ready to throw in the towel on Iraq.
And we saw something like it in 2003 when a handful of GOP senators helped Democrats come a single vote away from killing President Bush's tax cuts. (One of them, John McCain of Arizona, has since conceded he was wrong.)
Now, with action demanded on high gasoline prices, more Senate Republicans than ever are scurrying. The drilling issue may be energizing the party base this election year, but some in the GOP think it's a fine time to enact a non-solution that would make a bad situation worse.
The bipartisan "Gang of 10," led by Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Democrat Kent Conrad of North Dakota has grown into a "Gang of 16," with GOP Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Norm Coleman of Minnesota and John Sununu of New Hampshire the newest misguided Republicans. A more apt nickname would be "The Gang That Couldn't Think Straight."
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Lets get the names of the pubbies and put the screws to them.
Hang them. Then render the remains so we get SOMETHING useful out of them. / sarc
Play hard ball. No RNC funds for ANYONE up for re-election and supporting that bill. Pansey and Sununu can raise their own money if they want to pull this crap.
Hagel is my senator. I know the dems have dirt on him and are pulling the strings.
Who are they - I’ll make calls but it has to be tomorrow - May be a bit busy Thursday getting ready for Ivan.
I hope they know just because McCain/Palin are in the race doesnt’ mean we can’t vote them out. We don’t want partian politics. Do the job of drilling without the lies and secret stuff in them.
>Whenever the nation is faced with a big problem that the people demand be solved, we can always be sure of one thing: A group of Republican senators will scramble away from their party’s principles to join Democrats in some grand “compromise” scheme.<
yep.
I won’t donate unless they do the right thing.
Unfortunately my senator who is part of the ten is not up for reelection until 2012
The names are in the editorial
I don’t understand why the Repubs would want to do anything. As I understand, all off shore oil restrictions expire soon - just let them expire and happy day!
I call the “gang-of-10” RINO’s daily to complain about their perfidy. I point out that Congress - and ONLY Congress - has been responsible for one energy fiasco after another.
The drilling ban was the first - it put us where we are today, paying far too much in a severely distorted market for the lifeblood of our economy.
Next was the MTBE fiasco, making it mandatory until the damage was widespread enough to make them ban it.
They followed that excellent adventure with the ethanol mandate, which has us paying more but receiving 10% fewer miles out of every gallon of adulterated gasoline we buy. Even worse, we are paying far MORE for almost everything else we buy - particularly at the grocery store.
But worst of all, now they want to allow drilling in a few selected areas, with new restrictions, and $68 BILLION in new taxes (they say removed tax breaks, but companies don’t pay taxes - their CUSTOMERS do!) to fund research priorities set by CONGRESS!
Congress has NEVER demonstrated the ability to set appropriate priorities for research, and they are off in the wrong direction this time, as well. They favor ethanol and hydrogen, the two biggest technological boondoggles in the entire field of transportation energy. And the amount of money they want to pump into this rathole is obscene - like trying to make a baby in a month by getting 9 women pregnant.
Algae can produce at least 10 times as much oil per acre as ANY land crop, using waste water and atmospheric CO2. Some types can be converted to biodiesel, and others can produce “green crude” that can go straight to the same refineries we use today. Check out Sapphire Energy.
But for now, we need to explore and drill for every barrel of American oil, wherever it can be found. Bush needs to PROMISE to VETO any bill that contains any renewal or restriction on exploration or drilling, and if that means shutting down the government, so much the better!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.