Senate Democrats Are Misleading You on Energy

Last month, the Democrat-controlled Senate was intent on “doing something” about the high price of fuel. Big oil execs were harangued for the sin of having benefited from high demand for gasoline, and President Bush was prevailed upon to stop stockpiling oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move that analysts say will decrease the price of gas by a fraction of a cent.

Fresh off that major victory, in the first week of June, the Senate Democrat leadership tried to pass its “solution” to global warming—a cap and trade scheme that is designed to raise the price of gasoline so that consumers use less of it, thereby emitting fewer greenhouse gases. Economic forecasts predicted that the Congress’s cap and trade would have boosted the price of gas anywhere from 40 cents to 2 dollars. Thankfully, the bill was scuttled swiftly.

Now, Senate Democrats are back to bitching about the high price of gas. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) tried to pass a “windfall profits tax” on those greedy oil companies. Considering that the Congressional Research Service found that a similar “windfall profits tax” enacted in 1980 increased America’s dependence on foreign oil, American voters should think themselves lucky that this misbegotten legislation failed.

What the heck are the Democrats that run Congress trying to do on energy policy? On the one hand, they bemoan the high price of gas. On the other, they sing the praises of a climate policy that is designed to raise the price of gas. How long will they get away with having their cake and eating it, too?