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Contact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com ARLINGTON, Va., June 23 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery at a town hall meeting in Fresno, CA, today at 10:00 a.m. PDT (1:00 p.m. EDT): Thank you all very much. I appreciate the kind introduction from Jim Woolsey, and the warm welcome to Fresno State. I'm here to listen about energy issues as well as to talk. So let me just offer a few ideas before we begin our discussion. All across this state and nation, people are hurting because the price of gasoline...

Mitt Romney's surprisingly decisive victory in Michigan kept him in the race for the Republican nomination, but he wasn't the only one Tuesday night to make a comeback. The contest also revived the fortunes of another GOP politician whose message, many said, just wasn't right for the times. The other comeback kid was the late Ronald Reagan, with his message of opposition to big-government meddling. With his back to the wall after two stinging defeats, Romney ignored the advice of pollsters and pundits and campaigned on the Reagan-era theme that government is the problem. He even went after government policies...

If you're like me, the bluster and grandstanding associated with big congressional actions make you want to roll up the windows, crank up the radio, and tune out the whole circus. But the mammoth energy bill finally passed by Congress and signed by President Bush is something consumers should pay attention to. Among other things, the new law will directly affect the kinds of cars on the market in a few years--and what buyers pay for them. Some of the big changes that automakers and consumers will both have to contend with: Surprisingly tough gas mileage standards. The requirement to...

If you own a sports utility vehicle, you live in sin. At least that's what the Rev. Jim Ball and his group, the Evangelical Environmental Network, would have you believe. And they've set out to make sure people become aware of this little-known sin through some controversial ads, which ask, "What Would Jesus Drive?" Are they on to something? After all, 52 percent of the new vehicles purchased in America these days are SUVs. Under current federal laws, a passenger car must get 27.5 miles for the gallon, but an SUV needs to get only 20.7 miles a gallon. Transportation...

Waste of Energy by Gregg Easterbrook Post date 04.18.02 Last month the conservatives in the Senate triumphantly screwed the liberals, voting to block higher fuel-economy standards for SUVs. Today the liberals in the Senate have triumphantly screwed the conservatives right back, voting to block oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. How festive. In so doing, conservatives and liberals together will have screwed the country. We will have the worse of both worlds: continued headlong petroleum waste coupled with continued dependence on Persian Gulf oil. It's hard to decide which is worse: the way in which ideological preconceptions, rather...

<p>On Wednesday, the Senate voted down a proposal by Sens. John Kerry and John McCain to raise mileage standards on automobiles. The outcome came as no surprise, but what does it mean?</p> <p>Was it yet another victory for special interests at the expense of the national interest? No, it was much worse than that.</p>

A Failure of Energy mericans should be outraged at the Senate's vote on Wednesday to compromise important national security and environmental concerns in order to please the auto industry and its unions. That is precisely what took place when 62 senators, as part of the ongoing debate on new energy legislation, rejected a long-overdue effort to increase fuel efficiency standards by 50 percent over 13 years. Doing so promised ultimately to save 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, more than is currently imported from the Middle East.The average mileage for vehicles sold in America has dropped to 24 miles...