Seriously, I’m not really sure how it’s even possible for Congress to make their bad energy policies worse, but they are. And it’s coming from all angles. On the Senate side, the Gang of 10 energy bill includes only a very modest expansion in drilling while mandating alternative fuels and paying for it by taxing big oil. Sure, taxing big oil companies at time when energy prices are high and their banking record profits has a fashionable appeal to it, but it actually made the situation worse in the past. …
The problem with too many of Washington’s energy bills is that the only energy they contain is in the title. That was the case with the 2005 and 2007 energy bills, which in case anyone had not noticed have yet to do any good. And the same is true of the so-called Gang of Ten Senate proposal and similar measures under discussion in the House. The most obvious first step in dealing with high energy prices is to make available the significant amounts of domestic oil and natural gas that …
ST. PAUL – Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) stopped by bloggers row here inside the Excel Energy Center and we pressed him to talk about … energy. Specifically what he thought about the Gang of 10 energy plan beginning to take form in the Senate. DeMint stressed that whatever the bill looked like when it was introduced, it was guaranteed to be drastically worse by the time it passed: “You have to remember, the five Republicans working on the compromise are working with the five most reasonable Democrats. If it gets …
The Gang of 10 now rolls 16 deep. Six more Senators, three Democrats and three Republicans, joined the original gang of ten Senators seeking to expand offshore drilling, albeit the production expansion would be limited and taxes would be raised over $80 billion to promote renewable sources of energy. Repealing tax breaks for oil companies would be a part of the strategy to raise this money. President Bush did his part by repealing presidential restrictions on offshore drilling, an executive moratorium that was in place for nearly twenty years. And …
The Gang of 10. Sounds like something out of Westside Story. I keep waiting for Riff from the Jets to enter the picture somewhere, but it hasn’t happened yet. In reality, the Gang of 10 is a group of senators, 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans, leading the charge to combat high gas and energy prices. While the plan does suggest it will increase domestic supply, this is a bit misleading. Even worse, the majority of the plan focuses on the same tried and failed tax hikes, tax incentive gimmicks, and …
