Rare Weekend Senate Session - Today in Washington D. C. - July 21, 2008

The Senate reconvened in a rare weekend session today and resumed consideration of the House amendment to H.R. 3221, the housing bill. The U.S. Senate passed housing bill 72-13 and the measure will now go before President George Bush who has already indicated he would sign it into law. The housing bill is designed to provide struggling homeowners with access to cheaper loans that will in turn bail out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Following that vote, senators will vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to the LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) bill (S. 3186). Yesterday, Democrats failed to get cloture on their narrow energy speculation bill (S. 3268) by a 50-43 vote. Monday, Sen Reid could call up an omnibus bill (S. 3297) to bypass objections from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).

From Senate & News Sources: Senate Republicans continued to demand a full debate on energy legislation. Democrats, meanwhile, are scrambling to find any way to move away from consideration of energy issues or to block votes on increasing domestic energy supplies. To that end, Democrats shut down their energy bill, closing off the possibility of amendments, and tried to force the bill through yesterday. But as CQ Politics writes, “Senate Republicans Friday blocked efforts by Democratic leaders to end debate on an energy speculation bill, seeking to force continued discussion on energy policy all the way to the start of the August recess.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Americans are insisting we do more. They want us to do something to cut the price of gas and lessen our dependence on Middle East oil. They don’t want us to quit working until the job is done. And leaving this issue is what the Democrat leadership just voted to do. A majority in the Senate wants America to be self-reliant and to find more American energy. But the Democrat Leadership says, ‘No, we can’t.’”

At a press conference, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) zeroed in on Democrat leaders as the key problem, saying, “We need to find a few Democrats who are willing to defy their leadership, because effectively what we have is a blockade, a political blockade formed by Senator Obama, Senator Reid, and Speaker Pelosi, who are inhibiting, making it impossible for the American people to get what they overwhelmingly want, and that is access to America’s natural resources, because they believe that if we explore and produce American energy, we can bring down the price of gasoline at the pump.”

Certainly there are Democrats who have expressed their willingness to consider domestic production ideas, but as long as Reid and Pelosi continue to shut down energy debate, the American people will not be able to see the action they expect out of Congress.

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