Why isn’t this a big surprise?
President Bush said Friday that taxing enormous oil industry profits is not the way to calm Americans’ anxieties about pain at the gas pump, and that his “inclination and instincts” are that major oil companies are not intentionally overcharging drivers.
Bush’s remarks suggested the former Texas oilman is unlikely to take harsh action against oil companies despite public anger about the rising cost of fuel. Gasoline is averaging $2.92 a gallon across the country, up 69 cents from a year ago, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge report.
With politicians concerned the issue could tilt what are expected to be close midterm elections this fall, the president and many in Congress have been rushing to offer solutions, most of which would offer little immediate relief.
Some Democrats have viewed this week’s announcement by major oil companies of huge first-quarter profits as a chance to renew their push for a windfall profits tax. But though a few Republicans, including Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania, have said the idea ought to be examined, Bush and most GOP lawmakers strongly oppose it.
“The temptation in Washington is to tax everything,” the president said in a wide-ranging news conference.
Instead, Bush called on Congress to ease regulations that make it difficult to expand the nation’s refining capacity. He also urged oil companies to plow their profits into finding and producing more energy, such as by building natural gas pipelines or pursuing renewable energy sources — all ventures that could further boost the companies’ bottom lines.
So a windfall profits tax is no solution….Wait! Why not drill in Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and give $100 back to taxpayers who are losing thousands of dollars as they pay steep gas prices.
Well….many experts DO say ANWR drilling would not be a long or a short term solution to the problems the nation faces (and it would cause THIS GUY to turn over in his grave) — and do politicos really think that giving $100 back (the cost to fill a SUV or the cost of coffee at Starbucks) will make a difference to consumers (aka voters)?
Nah, who’d be silly enough to suggest that?
Senate Republicans sought to steal the show Thursday, unveiling a plan that would give taxpayers a $100 gas-tax rebate. But prospects for success were clouded, since the proposal is part of a larger package that includes language to open part of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, to oil and gas drilling — a long-sought GOP priority that’s been repeatedly stymied by congressional Democrats and a few Republicans.
“I think this is a bold bill that does everything possible to increase our supply and ease the burden on consumers,” said Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M.
Democrats said Republicans were merely stealing their ideas while trying to sneak through favors for oil companies.“Americans are struggling to pay the rising cost of gas, and they are not interested in hand-outs to help oil companies make more money by letting them drill in wildlife refuges. The people want immediate relief and a new energy policy,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
But the Democrats need to watch out, too. A new poll shows voters are angry at them as well as GWB on gas prices — and the entire political class could feel gas pains come November.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.