Today in Washington D. C. - May 13, 2008

The Senate: Sen. Harry Reid began today’s session of the Senate accusing Republicans of “obstructionism,” trying to shift blame for the failures of the Democrat-controlled Congress. While Reid and his leadership team complain about Republicans not supporting their bad policies, Republicans are addressing Americans’ concerns about energy. This morning, the Senate will vote on Republicans’ plan to increase supplies of American energy. Sen. Mitch McConnell said on the floor today, “no matter how hard we might try, we cannot repeal the law of supply and demand. We know that we also need to increase supply in order to lower gas prices, and that’s what our amendment does.” The Republican plan allows us to utilize the energy supplies that remain untapped in this country, including oil in ANWR and offshore and oil shale in the West. It also encourages the construction of new refineries and the use of clean-coal derived fuels.

In contrast, the Democrats’ plan remains full of old ideas that previously met with no success. They call for a windfall profits tax on oil companies, demand investigation of alleged “price gouging,” and call for a repeal of tax incentives that would give the upper hand to foreign oil companies. Senators won’t even be voting on the Democrats’ energy plan today. Instead, Reid has offered an amendment to halt the filling of the strategic petroleum reserves.

Around 11 AM, the Senate will begin a series of votes. The first vote will be on the McConnell amendment to the flood insurance bill, which contains the GOP energy package to increase domestic energy production. The second vote will be on an amendment offered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to suspend filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until December. Following those votes, the Senate will vote on final passage of the flood insurance bill (S.2284and on cloture on the motion to proceed to a collective bargaining bill for first responders (H.R. 980).

The House: Expected to finally take up the supplemental war funding bill on Wednesday and could also consider the long-delayed conference report on the farm bill that day.


From Senate & News Sources: Yesterday marked the 300th day that Judge Robert Conrad’s nomination has been pending to the 4th Circuit Court of appeals, and Republican Senators took to the floor to protest the delay and ask for his consideration. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) has pointed to a number of criteria that he thinks are important in considering judicial appointees: whether the vacancy is in a judicial emergency; whether the nominee is supported by both his home state senators; whether the ABA has given him a favorable evaluation; and whether a nominee has previously been approved by the Senate in a bipartisan manner. Judge Conrad clearly meets all of these criteria and his nomination should be moved forward.

In other news, House and Senate Democrats continue to try to hammer out a budget plan, and the main thing they seem to be able to agree on is that it should assume the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will expire. CQ Today noted, “The practical impact of having a final budget blueprint this year will likely be small. Democratic leaders have made clear that there is not much interest in completing work on many, if any, spending bills until after the November elections.”

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