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Thursday, July 31, 2008

Senate at Standstill Over Energy Relief

By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau
       WASHINGTON — After two weeks of debate, the U.S. Senate still couldn't agree on a bill to combat rising gasoline prices late Wednesday, and the chances of reaching a deal before the August congressional recess appear slim.
    Proposals to expand offshore oil drilling, boost production of wind and solar power and rein in Wall Street oil speculators remain in jeopardy — at least until September — unless Senate Democrats and Republicans reach consensus by Friday.
    Leaders of both parties have been embroiled in procedural combat on energy issues for days, with Democrats initially refusing to debate a Republican proposal to expand offshore drilling and Republicans threatening to filibuster other energy measures.
    "They will not allow us to go ahead and consider any other legislation until they get votes on their (offshore drilling) amendments," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
    Meanwhile, Sen. Pete Domenici, the top Republican on the committee, said the Democratic bill to crack down on energy speculators is a non-starter.
    "It's never going to pass, in my opinion, because those who know about it say it's not that important," Domenici told the Journal. "And the bill, as it is written, is inoperable."
    Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, supports lifting a drilling ban along the Outer Continental Shelf and encouraging more offshore drilling and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. Sen. Barack Obama, the all-but-certain Democratic nominee, has opposed lifting the current offshore drilling bans.
    "There is no way for at least a generation that we can get by without more and more oil," Domenici said. "If we could just use our own, we could save American dollars from flowing out of America."
    Meanwhile, President Bush on Wednesday renewed his request that Congress lift its moratorium on coastal oil and gas drilling.
    "The American people are rightly frustrated by the failure of the Democratic leaders in Congress to enact commonsense solutions," Bush said. "All the Democratic leaders have to do is to allow a vote. They should not leave Washington without doing so."
    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, relented on the offshore drilling issue earlier this week, offering Republicans a chance to offer four amendments to the speculation bill, including one that would bring the drilling proposal to a Senate vote.
    Republicans declined, arguing that they weren't given enough time to agree to the deal. Reid took the offer off of the table Wednesday.
    "We didn't accept it because we had to go talk about it," Domenici said. "We weren't given enough time. This is a tough decision to sell to 49 Republicans. In the normal course of things you offer a lot of amendments."
    Bingaman said he's not sure how Reid could have been more accommodating, without relinquishing control of the entire agenda.
    "Senator Reid is sort of out of ideas as to how to get the Republicans to change their position here," Bingaman said. "They have refused to let us get on those (other non-energy related issues) either."
    On Wednesday, Reid tried to move the Senate away from the speculation bill and toward a measure to extend tax credits for the wind and solar industries. The motion failed, 51-43, as Democrats failed to get the 60 votes needed to avert a filibuster.
    Alex Marker, a spokesman for Schott Solar, which has plans to build a large-scale solar manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, said the tax credits, which are set to expire at year's end, are critical to the industry.
    Schott said the credit extension is being held hostage by partisan politics. Leaders of both parties, including Bingaman and Domenici, have said they favor the extensions.
    "They have to get over this gridlock," Marker told the Journal. "It's more important for the country to have (new clean power) than for any political party to make hay with it."