The months leading up to an election are often called the silly season. Well, this summer on Capitol Hill has been particularly silly. Congress has taken partisanship and unproductiveness to new depths.
Despite all the expectations and hope, the Senate’s consideration of the Warner-Lieberman climate bill turned into a partisan fiasco. An angry Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) intentionally derailed consideration of the bill by forcing a premature cloture vote (to end debate and vote on the bill). With Reid not offering an opportunity to consider amendments, the cloture vote fell far short of the 60 votes needed.
Leading up to the debate, senators from both sides of the issue claimed to want a serious debate on climate change. What transpired was anything but. Before Reid’s tantrum, GOP leaders had engaged in numerous stalling tactics, even demanding that the entire 492-page bill be read into the record—ostensibly as a protest about judicial confirmations.
The only bright lights in this shameful episode were the seven Republicans who voted for cloture—Susan Collins (ME), Elizabeth Dole (NC), Mel Martinez (FL), Gordon Smith (OR), John Sununu (NH) and John Warner (VA)—and the fact that both presidential candidates sent letters to the Senate saying that if they had been there to vote, they would have voted for cloture.
BLOWING IN THE WIND
Renewable energy credits are also falling victim to election-year silliness. With investment and production tax credits for the wind, solar and other renewable industries about to expire, along with energy efficiency tax incentives, extending these credits for another year is urgent. If they are allowed to expire, it will have an adverse impact on investment in the wind and solar industries at a time when America desperately needs increased investment in clean and renewable energy sources.
Opposition to extending the credits comes mostly from GOP leaders and the Bush Administration, but the Democrats have not exactly been trying to build a bipartisan compromise. Republicans initially opposed paying for the credits by taking away oil industry incentives, but now they seem intent on blocking any energy proposal that does not include a
variety of drilling proposals.
HOT AIR AND GAS
The sharp increase in gasoline prices—as well as Newt Gingrich’s misguided but well-funded Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less campaign —has led many to call for more oil drilling. Throughout the summer, polls have also shown that an increasing majority of voters now favor increased offshore drilling. So, it is not surprising that politicians of both parties, ignoring geological realities, are jumping on the bandwagon.
It is one thing if some additional offshore drilling is part of a comprehensive energy and climate plan that weans us off oil, as Senator John McCain has proposed. It is something far different and disturbing when members of Congress are
convinced that drilling is the primary solution to our energy woes.
Many Republicans are elated to see their tired old arguments gaining a new level of public acceptance and putting the Democrats on the defensive. And now, even the most ardent pro-environment Democrats, such as Mark Udall—running for a Senate seat in Colorado—are modifying their position to support additional offshore drilling. Ironically, the only hope of keeping the offshore moratorium in place is if the pro-drilling Republicans refuse to compromise so they can ride this issue to November.
The good news is that high gas prices have not shifted public opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge... so far. Polling conducted for REP and other environmental groups throughout the summer shows that a majority of
voters still oppose opening the Refuge to drilling.
Still, the propensity of politicians to pander can never be underestimated. Two GOP congressmen who previously opposed drilling in the Arctic Refuge, Roscoe Bartlett (MD) and Jim Walsh (NY) are now sponsoring an Arctic Refuge drilling bill.
The drilling debate will likely come to a head in September. We ask each of you to go to www.rep.org and click on the REP Action Center button to contact your senators and representative. Help us ensure that our natural treasures are not lost in this new oil rush!
