Today in Washington D. C. - Sept 15, 2008

On The Floor: The Senate reconvene at 3 PM and resumed consideration of the fiscal 2009 Defense authorization bill (S. 3001). There will be no votes today. Later in the week, there could be action on tax extenders or an energy package, depending on what agreements are reached on consideration.

From Senate & News Sources: Roll Call out the bottom line on energy for the next couple of weeks today: “The biggest question remaining this Congress is whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) really want to cut a deal with the White House before the elections to allow more offshore oil drilling — or whether they are going through an elaborate exercise to give their Members a heaping dose of political cover.”

Many Republicans remain skeptical. Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl said, “Is this just an opportunity for Members to have a cover vote? To vote for something so they can say they did, knowing that it will never become law? Or is it a real exercise? I don’t yet see a willingness on the part of the majority, if you look for example at what the House Democrats have now come out with, to confront the issue of drilling in a meaningful, substantive way.” And House Republican Whip Roy Blunt said, “I’m not sure there’s any real intention to get a bill that could be signed into the law.”

Though it appears that House Democrats will try to move toward getting a vote on their energy package this week, there are real concerns about the bill. Foremost is the fact that the bill would not allow revenue-sharing with states that opt to approve drilling off their shores, giving them little incentive to do so. The headline on McClatchy’s story today sums the concerns: “Democrats’ offshore drilling plan would give states nothing.” Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) apparently sees things the same way. In CongressDaily. Landrieu said, “It is dead on arrival in the Senate. The Senate will never pass a bill without revenue sharing, in my view.”

On the subject of drilling, USA Today noted, “the compromise plans being floated by House Democrats look timid, with 50-mile or 100-mile buffer zones that would leave much acreage off limits and force drilling into the deepest and most expensive areas. . . . Current domestic offshore production is also dangerously concentrated along the Gulf Coast. Drilling elsewhere would diversify risk away from an area that has to shut down every time a major storm approaches . . . .”

Still, it’s worth noting that the renewed focus on production is a positive step, especially given how Democrats spent the summer looking for scapegoats to pin high oil and gasoline prices on, finally settling on “speculators.” Unfortunately for them, The Wall Street Journal writes, “In one of the broadest and most authoritative studies to date, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has offered hard statistical data that financial trading hasn’t been driving [oil] price moves.” So now that Democrats are looking to production, are they willing to have a real debate about real solutions? Americans may have an answer by the end of the week.

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