Today in Washington D. C. - July 28, 2008

The Senate will reconvene at 3 PM today and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to an omnibus bill of measures Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is holding (S. 3297). At 4 PM, the Senate will vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to the omnibus bill. On Saturday, Republicans prevented Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from leaving the energy issue to move to a LIHEAP bill (S. 3186). On Saturday, we reported that the Senate passed the housing bill (H.R. 3221) and sent to the President.

From Senate & News Sources: As Congress enters its final week before the scheduled August recess, it appears that Democrats are going to try everything they can to avoid the energy and gas price issue. During Saturday’s rare weekend session, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to use LIHEAP (an energy assistance program for low-income families) lure Republican senators into voting to move off the energy bill currently being considered by the Senate. Republicans stopped that move, as they think Congress should not be doing anything else until it seriously does something to “find more and use less” energy.

However, Democrats continue to try and duck the issue. Reid has scheduled a vote this afternoon on an omnibus bill full of attractive legislation that is designed to both attempt to steamroll Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and again try to move off the energy measure. Sen. Coburn criticizes Reid’s maneuver in a post at RedState today.

Why are Democrats afraid to address the most pressing issue facing Americans? The answer seems to lie in part with a number of stories showing that voters are responding to the message of “finding more and using less” American energy. The Washington Post has an excellent story headlined, “Oil May Become GOP’s 2008 Issue.” The Wall Street Journal notes, “There are indications Republicans’ support for increased domestic oil production is gaining traction on the campaign trail and in Congress.” According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “surveys released Thursday found sizable support in Wisconsin and two other Midwestern battlegrounds, Minnesota and Michigan, for new coastal drilling.” The Christian Science Monitor writes, “Republicans are eager to lift the ban [on offshore oil exploration] and promote more drilling. . . . But for Democratic leaders, the issue is politically toxic.”

Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may also be trying to provide some cover for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). The Washington Post reported Sunday that “[Sen. Chuck] Schumer [D-NY] suggested that other than a few smaller legislative items Democrats are trying to push . . . Congress will not move on a large energy plan until after the election. If Obama is elected and Democrats gain larger majorities in Congress, Schumer said, ‘You will get, for the first time, a real energy policy.’” Is Schumer suggesting that Democrats would prefer to run out the clock until the election and then try to enact more liberal policies that would not address the real issue of supply and demand in energy markets?

It seems that in their haste to get away from votes on solutions to high energy and gas prices, Democrats may be abandoning their speculation bill which they once touted as critical to solving the energy problem. Roll Call reports that important constituencies in New York and Chicago oppose the speculation bill, leading to an apparent lack of enthusiasm for the bill from Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Dick Durbin (D-IL). Reid’s hometown paper, the Las Vegas Review Journal, also had harsh words for the bill. Even The New York Times editorial page admonished “Democrats’ misbegotten plan to curb speculation in oil futures.”

ARRA Editor: The issue of gas and energy prices and developing more American energy supplies while encouraging conservation are the twin number-one issues in the country. Democrats continue to scramble to try to avoid the issue. Can you believe that the democrat leaders would capitulate their responsibilities to the American public in an attempt to wait on the presumptive rise of Barack Obama. Not only are they not doing their jobs, they are showing that they will walk "lock-step" after Obama should he become president with out regard to representing their constituents -- or at least a majority of their constituents. There is no avoiding it - the Democrat the House and Senate leadership is floundering in their addressing the needs of the American public. After listening to their fellow Senator speak in Germany, do they now wish to surrender all to a their "leader"responsibility to the "absentee" senator?

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