George Bush: Help Americans, not just big oil
Apr 25, 10:52 AM | Harry Reid
Today, Dick Durbin and I sent a letter to President Bush, urging him to help ease the pain Americans are experiencing at the gas station by putting aside the energy policies he allowed oil companies to write and joining Democrats in their continuing efforts to stop price gouging, rein in gratuitous subsidies to Big Oil, and make America energy independent.
April 25, 2006
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President –
We are writing to express our continuing and extreme concern about gasoline, diesel and energy prices that are skyrocketing yet again. Consumers are paying more than $3.00 per gallon of gasoline, a 100% increase since 2001; there are rumored to be gasoline shortages in some areas on the East Coast due to poor oil company planning; and oil futures prices for June delivery have reached $75 a barrel. Diesel fuel has also more than doubled in price in the same time period, severely hampering the farm economy and the transportation industry.
The current national energy policy is clearly not working for all Americans, especially those who can least afford it. They are suffering while the oil companies are reporting record-breaking profits and multi-million dollar retirement packages. We need to provide Americans with relief from these high prices as soon as possible. And we need to swiftly transform the country’s energy policy so it delivers affordable, clean and reliable transportation fuels that ensure strong economic growth and stability very soon, not in 30 years. Continuing to leave our nation’s economy and national security entirely at the mercy of the OPEC-controlled petroleum markets is disastrous.
Therefore, we urge you to 1) support relief for American consumers as rapidly as possible; 2) support swift enactment of a new Federal anti-price gouging and anti-market manipulation law, such as S.1735, the Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act of 2005; 3) call on the major oil companies to exercise good corporate citizenship and refrain from additional price increases; 4) urge the major oil companies to divert some of their enormous profits to pay for installing E85, biodiesel or other alternative fuel pumps at a significant percentage of stations by the Fourth of July; 5) support passage of legislation to expedite market penetration of flex-fuel vehicles and alternative fuels, such as S. 1994, Fuel Security and Consumer Choice Act; 6) direct and support full-funding for Federal agencies to comply now with the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and alternative fuel vehicle procurement requirements in the Energy Policy Acts of 1992 and 2005, as well as the various relevant Executive Orders; and, 7) redouble Administration efforts to stabilize world energy markets and prices rather than exacerbating global tensions.
If the oil companies are reluctant to take the steps outlined herein, we ask you to join with us to pass legislation to eliminate the tax incentives or benefits now enjoyed by the major oil companies and use that money to provide consumer price relief and invest in a real energy independence strategy that works for all Americans. We reiterate our invitation of April 6 for you to join with us in co-hosting a bipartisan national energy summit with representation by all facets of American life, in an open and transparent public forum.We need swift action and real leadership to address this situation. Thank you for your attention to our concerns.
Sincerely,
Harry Reid
Dick Durbin
Comment
- Notice how Senator Reid and “Turban” Durbin aren’t offering to remove the federal tax American consumers have to pay as part of the purchase of gasoline? This tax does nothing to help anybody who has to fill their car’s gas tanks, even the poor, who have to go to the same stations to tank up as everybody else. All Congress ends up doing is increasing the cost to all Americans and filling up the Treasury.
Tell Reid and that stupid Durbin to repeal any federal gas tax being paid by consumers or to shut the hell up and quit lying to the American people.
— Steve Apr 25, 11:25 AM # - #1, steve says…......
“Tell Reid and that stupid Durbin to repeal any federal gas tax being paid by consumers or to shut the hell up and quit lying to the American people.”
Once in a while, I partially agree with steve. This is one of them.
Put our money where their mouth is…drop the federal gas tax.
On the other hand, It’s obscene, the amount of money the CEO’s of some of these companies make. Come to think of it, Dick Cheney’s tax return made me choke too. Gotta love old dick and his haliburton “BLIND TRUST”......and that democrat dude with the giant real estate deal (can’t remember his name right now).
They’re all unofficial members of CAROC. (Crooks Are Running Our Country).
Greedy fuckers to the bone.
— Poor Daddy Apr 25, 11:55 AM # - Notice too how Reid waited until President Bush made his speech and then aped back what the President did, thereby attempting to take credit. What a transparent loser Reid is.
Durbin is too dumb to waste any comments on.
— Kee Apr 25, 11:55 AM # - #2
“On the other hand, It’s obscene, the amount of money the CEO’s of some of these companies make. Come to think of it, Dick Cheney’s tax return made me choke too. Gotta love old dick and his haliburton “BLIND TRUST”......and that democrat dude with the giant real estate deal (can’t remember his name right now).”
And sometimes, I gotta agree with Poor Daddy. I’m sick of greedy CEOs and greedy politicians, regardless of party affiliation. Support Porkbusters.
— Steve Apr 25, 12:03 PM # - April 24, 2006
Home not so sweet
As Reid’s power grows in D.C., his support slides in NV
By J. Patrick Coolican
Las Vegas Sun
Sen. Harry Reid, once a fairly obscure conservative Democrat from the small state of Nevada, is all the buzz inside the Beltway lately – unfortunately for him, it’s the Washington and not the Las Vegas Beltway.
Reid is praised by his party’s national grass-roots activists for his forceful opposition to the Republican agenda and ability to keep Senate Democrats unified. His opponents concede – occasionally with close-fisted frustration – that he consistently bests his counterpart, Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
“No minority leader has so dominated the Senate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1953-54,” conservative columnist Robert Novak, who has covered the Beltway for decades, wrote last week, citing Reid’s ability to hold up immigration reform and a bill to bail out companies with asbestos liabilities.
But Reid’s national stature among activist Democrats, concentrated on the blue-state coasts, carries risks for him at home, analysts say. His consistent opposition to President Bush and his need to mollify the liberals in his party is costing him in Nevada, where polls show he has lost support since becoming minority leader.
Although Reid, who won re-election in 2004 and still has four years in his term, said in an interview that he pays no attention to polls, his actions in Nevada during the two-week Easter recess suggested that he is keenly aware of his vulnerabilities. He spoke to groups that carry at least a patina of conservatism – chambers of commerce, police and firefighters, religious groups, military men and women, district attorneys.
Reid touted national security, faith-based solutions and anti-gang measures. In front of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, he reminded the audience of his support last year for legislation long sought by conservatives that made it harder to declare bankruptcy.
And yet, in the conflict Reid faces – between his more conservative Nevada roots and his new coastal liberal friends – he struggled to quell his bluest, Democratic instincts, launching a shot at Bush at the chamber event.
“How can Republicans support somebody who’s running us into the ground like this?”
In Washington, Congress-watchers say Reid’s recent victories on Capitol Hill result from several factors: Republican disarray caused by President Bush’s unpopularity, an improved communications operation, smart parliamentary maneuvers, and Frist’s presidential aspirations, which have undermined his effectiveness.
“The question is whether it’s President Bush’s popularity, or lack thereof, or is it Harry Reid?” asked Marty Kady, who covers the Senate for the respected journal Congressional Quarterly.
Bush’s unpopularity “doesn’t seem like a short-term thing,” said David Lublin, a professor of political science at American University and an authority on Congress. “It’s a long-term thing, and there’s no way out.
“In the past, Congressional Republicans have rallied around the president, but they can’t do that, and they’re feeling uneasy because they have to run for re-election, and they’re in chaos.”
Republicans were most recently divided on a landmark immigration bill, with many running to the right of Bush’s more moderate proposal. When Frist announced a grand compromise without having the Republican votes to back it up, he looked incompetent, while Reid appeared shrewd, Lublin said.
While Senate Republicans have been divided on a number of issues, such as privatizing Social Security or making tax cuts permanent, Reid has kept his caucus together. In fact, Congressional Quarterly, which tracks party unity, showed that Democrats were as united on party line votes last year as they have ever been.
Conversely, Bush’s weakened standing has made opposing him a less risky proposition, Kady said.
“In the post-9/11 environment, when they blocked the Republican agenda, there was a political price to pay for Democrats,” he said. “But that’s not working right now. Judging by the polls, the majority of Americans don’t mind Democrats blocking the Republican agenda.”
Kady said Reid has been adept at building coalitions among Democrats. He pointed to a recent measure Reid proposed with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York to give broader access to birth control. It was billed as a way to reduce teen pregnancy, but also abortions, and so united moderates and liberals.
Reid has also set up a campaign-style “war-room” operation to direct the Democratic message. He recruited Andrew Fois, an old Clinton hand, as staff director.
That operation hones a strategic message each day and tracks and grades senators on their TV and radio appearances to make sure Democrats are well represented.
“That’s something new Reid has brought in, and it’s helped get the message out,” said Tom Matzzie, political director for MoveOn.org, the liberal group.
At the same time, Republicans have complained that the White House has lost focus in getting its own message across. As of Sunday night, the administration was without a press secretary.
Finally, Reid has taken advantage of Frist’s several distractions – including a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of a stock sale, and his presumptive presidential run – to shock him with parliamentary jabs.
“Trying to create a presidential run while you’re majority leader is darn near impossible,” Kady said. “What you have to do to be majority leader, and what you have to do to create a presidential run – Sen. Trent Lott and former Sen. Bob Dole believed they’re mutually exclusive.”
Frist could be running into jealousies and irritation in his own party, which includes Sen. George Allen and other presidential aspirants.
“He looks like he’s running for president, which he is, and what’s funny is, the more he tries, the less presidential he looks,” Lublin said. “And you get the sense his colleagues don’t appreciate it.”
Frist often seems off-balance when Reid launches a parliamentary sally, such as when he invoked an arcane rule to force the Senate into closed session last year, demanding an investigation into the use of pre-Iraq War intelligence.
It was a stunt, but it worked, riling Frist and grabbing front-page headlines across the country right as Bush tried to win back the public on Iraq.
The respect of MoveOn.org’s Matzzie, one of the more influential voices in liberal Washington, may be the ultimate gauge of Reid’s standing among activist Democratic circles these days.
“When he’s with you, he fights hard, and that’s why he’s able to gather people and be a leader of Democrats nationally,” Matzzie said.
“In terms of the Senate, he’s a master.”
Matzzie noted that Reid differs from MoveOn.org on a number of issues, such as MoveOn’s call for withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2006.
But it is the adulation of people like Matzzie that also endangers Reid at home. “Absolutely it hurts him at home,” said Eric Herzik, a UNR political scientist. “He has to take up the cause of the most liberal wing of the party.”
J. Patrick Coolican can be reached at 259-8814 or at patrick.coolican@lasvegassun.com.
— chris Apr 25, 12:33 PM # - Reid, tell the Sierra Club and the rest of the radical left wing environmental wackos that you pander to to go to hell and you begin doing what is right for America. You and your Democrat pals prevented any refineries from being built in the last 30 years. You have stopped all nuclear power plants from being built. Nuclear is the cleanest, safest energy source known to man and the spent fuel can safely be buried in Yucca Mountain. CLEARLY, DEMOCRATS ARE 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR TODAY’S RISING GASOLINE PRICES. QUIT POINTING FINGERS.
— joro Apr 25, 06:30 PM # - Reid will not respond. This site is for constituent appeasement, nothing more. Reid is a loser.
— Kee Apr 25, 06:56 PM # - Why would Sen. Reid respond to inane comments like those who suggest that Reid “waited” to hear Mr. Bush’s speech and then “aped back” what Bush said. No one who compared the two statements could say that.
And, then there are the haters. “Turbin” Durbin?
Grow up.
— PC Apr 26, 12:52 AM # - In one of his e-mail messages to us, Mr. Reid says,
“These high prices are unacceptable, and they are a direct result of the failures of George Bush, Republicans in Congress and their buddies at the big oil and gas companies.”
Failures??? What failures?!? These guys are being amazingly successful. After all, they’re making a killing with the oil prices. And another killing in the (ahem) “rebuilding” of Iraq. Isn’t that what they wanted to win the White House and Congress for? Why else would these multi-millionaires work so hard to get a job that “only” pays $200,000 a year?
— Jim Apr 26, 06:16 AM # - The energy / fuel / oil problems did not start with our GOP Congress, they started in the 70’s. The Democrats were in charge of Congress and they remained in charge until the 90’s when sanity started to take over. During the Democrats reign, they did nothing to enhance our energy policy all they did was pass regulations detrimental to energy production.
Before you start whining about the current President and Congress, you should at least have a vague idea of reality.
— Kee Apr 26, 08:13 AM # - There’s more “snake oil” in Reid than all the oil in Iran!
This is almost a laughable degree of demogoguery.
I think there is enormous greed by many CEOsand YES, is IS disgusting. but we don’t hear anything about the unBelievable GREED in ALL of that cesspool called the Beltway!
First, let me clear something up for foolish people who Reid is demagoguing to—his sheeple followers:
Corporations don’t pay taxes—they simply increase their prices to cover their cost of their taxes. ONLY PEOPLE PAY TAXES!! Did you hear that? ONLY PEOPLE PAY TAXES!!
It’s IDIOTIC pretending that “punishing” the “big oil” companies is gonna do a thing but punish the CONSUMER. DUH. Economics 101, folks!
Secondly, it is the Democratic Party and some liberal congress weasels inside the cesspool beltway that are RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ENTIRE MESS! They have stopped the attempt to drill in Anwar which, if it hadn’t been vetoed by our beloved and out of control amorous former “president,” Billy Bob Clinton, would have supplied us with a hundreds of thousands of barrels/day of oil by now with almost ZERO environmental impact.
It is the Liberals who have made it impossible to drill in the Gulf or off the coast of California!
It is the Liberals who have mandated absurd blends for each state and impeded pipeline development for DECADES under the absaurd guise of “We Care about The Environment!” It is the Liberals and extreme environmentalists who have stopped the development of Refineries. No new refineries for over thirty YEARS!
We Have the oil but we don’t have enough refineries to process that oil!
So any kind of talk about Punishing Any Company fiscally through taxation is LAUGHABLE aand OBSCENE and thoroughly STUPID.
We need to rely on the resources Inside this country for a change. Environmental measures have Vastly improved in the oil and gas industries as well as coal mining and they are constantly improving even as I write this.
So to hear a Liberal whining about high gas prices by the very ones who are Responsible for it is disgusting and Revolting!
— Gwyn Apr 26, 01:33 PM # - #11…Well said, Gwyn, it is a shame that so many are so gullible.
— Kee Apr 26, 03:41 PM # - I was surprised when my aunt sent me an email generated from this website. I can’t believe that she fell for this nonsense about “punishing big oil”. I don’t think the average profit margin of oil companies is high. In fact I think it is too low. The profit margin on my business and many others is much higher.
Also, why is it all right for Robin Williams to make $20 million dollars on a movie, but not ok for a head corporate officer of a giant corporation to do so? Both are paid very well because they are the best at what they do They earn as much as their prospective employers are willing to pay because the folks writing the checks expect the potential for profit will justify paying the salaries. Furthermore, these oil companies are providing many high paying union jobs. If the oil company’s profits were lower, I suppose they would have to start cutting pay and benefits on those workers to keep the companies profitable and investors satisfied.
— James Apr 27, 01:18 AM # - The seasonal fuel raise (scare) goes back to the1973 fuel shortage (scare). The big oil then realized that they could scare the public into higher prices when ever they wanted to sence.
— Don Apr 27, 02:46 AM # - Nothing like “punishing” people who usually vote Republican, right Brother Reid. Why don’t we “punish” Hollywood movie stars for making more money than most of the US population while we are at it. Makes sense to me.
— El-ahrairah Apr 27, 04:34 AM # - Your doing a great job Harry,
Gas Prices have doubled since bush was elected and everyone knows it.
The Republicans have controled all three seats of power and now all they can do is blame you because they will never blame themselfs.
400 million to retiring exxon CEO!
Nothing invested to get us off foreign Oil!
No bid contracts for their donors to get re elected!
WE the people stand behind you one hundred percent harry…
Give them Hell!
— Steve Apr 28, 01:07 AM # - Senator Dick Durbin was interviewed by a newspaper called La Raza (“The Race”) about the recent illegal immigration marches, and he said the following:
“”“”But we must not let this reform stop, because if we wait a month, two months, three months, we may never be able to capture the momentum we have these days. These demonstrations are important, but they have to be peaceful and positive and continue reaching out and bringing in more people. As long as the face of this effort is the face of the family wanting to stay together and to make America a better place, we can win.”“””
Can you believe that? A United States Senator supports foreign nationals marching in our streets.
Not only that, note the use of the word “we”.
Senator Dick Durbin is on the side of the foreign citizens who are making a show of force in our streets and demanding that we capitulate.
Can anyone say with any great amount of confidence that the Democratic Party is an American party?
— IsDickDurbinAnAmerican? Apr 29, 10:57 PM # - #17
Turban Durbin should have been charged earlier as a traitor for his anti-American remarks on the Senate floor. Reid should have had him removed from the Senate long ago. Ramsey Clark was behind the earlier marches by the illegals. Is he sponsoring the Mayday protests too? Mayday parades are usually associated with the Communists show of military might.
— joro Apr 30, 01:18 AM #
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