Gas war has begun
- From: "Uno" <Uno@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 20:32:07 GMT
.. Monday, April 24, 2006 | 1:45 p.m. ET
From Elizabeth Wilner
Gas wars: A counter attack
Because, in Washington, any "memo to interested parties" -- read: the
media -- from one side can't go unanswered by the other, the Democratic
Senate campaign committee (DSCC) fired off a response to their GOP
counterpart's memo of earlier today (see below). Republicans are accusing
Democrats of blocking energy policies that could have alleviated current
high gas prices, and of doing nothing to solve energy problems when Bill
Clinton was president. The DSCC in its response exults in Republicans'
"collective anxiety attack over the fact that they are being held
accountable for turning a blind eye" to soaring gas prices, and in the GOP
Hill leadership's request to President Bush to ask federal agencies to look
into price-gouging. The Democrats also point to the hefty campaign
contributions oil companies traditionally give to Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, taking the high road while his campaign
committee takes a lower one, has sent a letter to his colleague Bill Frist,
the majority leader, asking that when the Senate returns, they "work
together in a bipartisan fashion to address the critical issues facing the
American people" -- tops among them, dealing with gas prices.
Meanwhile, our readers have plenty of suggestions for Congress in case
lawmakers feel stuck -- including lowering speed limits and having members
spend plenty of time at home so they can see what their constituents are
paying for gas.
.. Monday, April 24, 2006 | 11:30 a.m. ET
From Elizabeth Wilner
The gas war has begun
President Bush and members of Congress are still making their way back to
Washington, but the war over who's to blame for skyrocketing gas prices is
already simmering and is expected to reach full-boil status by tomorrow.
There's little Bush can do about current high gas prices -- and if Democrats
were running part of the government, they would find their hands similarly
tied. But they're doing what they can to encourage voters to blame the
majority party, and they are increasingly focusing their attacks on Bush's
energy policy, the drafting of which, they remind everyone, energy companies
were invited to participate in. Republican lawmakers are doing their best
to deflect those efforts by taking up the cause of alleged price-gouging
themselves and, now, by firing back at Democrats directly.
The Republican Senate campaign committee issued a detailed release accusing
Democrats of trying to change the subject away from a strong US economy by
focusing on gas prices. "These are the same Democrats who accomplished
nothing in terms of an energy policy during eight years with President
Clinton at the helm... These are also the same Democrats who obstructed a
bi-partisan comprehensive energy bill for four years in Congress," the
release snipes. A Senate GOP aide advises, "We expect Democrats to blame us
as all summer... We expect there to be hearings, Democratic calls for
'windfall' taxes on oil company profits, tapping the strategic petroleum
reserve, claims of price gouging by the oil companies, VP Cheney's ties to
the oil industry, and other nonsensical theories." Note that GOP Sen. Arlen
Specter also came out in favor of a windfall tax yesterday.
Tomorrow, Bush will give an energy speech in the morning and House Democrats
have already scheduled a press conference to respond, probably only the
first of many such events to be planned.
.. Monday, April 24, 2006 | 9:25 a.m. ET
From Elizabeth Wilner, Mark Murray, Huma Zaidi and Holly Phillips
First glance
Congress returns this week, with all the political repercussions that
entails. Republican members worried about the midterm elections will be
converging on Capitol Hill, unnerving one another with stories from town
halls they did back home. Since they left town two weeks ago, new White
House chief of staff Josh Bolten has made the kind of personnel changes and
outreach efforts some of them were agitating for, and further changes are in
the works. Yet President Bush's most recent job approval rating is 33% and
the price of gas has skyrocketed, prompting returning GOP lawmakers to
compete with Democrats in calling for hearings, agency action, and a
windfall profits tax aimed at oil companies. Bush gives an energy speech
tomorrow.
The Senate this week will begin debating the emergency supplemental funding
request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina recovery,
a must-pass bill that has become problematic for the GOP. First, the debate
over the actual emergencies the bill would fund provides Democrats with
fresh opportunities to criticize the Administration. Although the war in
Afghanistan has been by many measures a success, Democrats are now
suggesting that the just-resurfaced Osama bin Laden might have been caught
by now had the Administration not turned its sights from Afghanistan to
Iraq. Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean insisted in New
Orleans over the weekend that Democrats will make Katrina an issue in the
midterms. Bush is scheduled to visit the Gulf Coast on Thursday, where he
no doubt will urge the Senate to pass the bill.
Then there's the non-emergency side of the bill. As NBC's Ken Strickland
points out, the Senate version is $14 billion more than Bush requested and
the House passed, and will prove to be a test of the GOP mantra of fiscal
restraint as conservatives battle to shrink it to the requested $92 billion.
The bill also is being loaded up with earmarks by senators looking for
accomplishments to tout in the midterm election year. Bush's goal of
halving the deficit by the time he leaves office already has been
complicated by lawmakers' refusal to cut entitlement spending this year; the
non-emergency projects being attached to the supplemental defy his call for
earmark reform.
Senate efforts to pass an immigration-reform bill have been relegated to the
back burner, but Bush will try to revive them by calling for a comprehensive
bill -- i.e., combining border security with a guest-worker program -- in
Irvine at 12:10 pm ET, his final event in California before heading East.
In the House, NBC's Mike Viqueira says that GOP House members are
approaching this five-week stint until their next recess as if it were the
Bataan Death March, judging from how they're talking about it. With a weak
lobbying reform measure on the table this week, Viq suggests it's possible
that the only significant pieces of legislation to pass Congress before
November will be the defense and homeland security appropriations bills.
The GOP leadership claims they will make another attempt to get a budget
resolution next week, having failed to get a bill before departing for
recess. One bright spot for Republicans is that Democratic Rep. Alan
Mollohan's temporary departure from the Ethics Committee undermines his
party's "culture of corruption" case against the GOP.
Republicans in both chambers also plan a series of show votes later this
spring on an estate tax repeal and bans on gay marriage and flag-burning to
motivate the base. Congress next leaves town for Memorial Day, and the
targeted adjournment date is October 6.
En route home from California, Bush stops at the Venetian in Las Vegas for a
3:35 pm ET fundraiser for Rep. Jon Porter (R). The more popular First Lady
is in Connecticut, where she'll appear at a fundraiser for Connecticut
Republicans, including moderate GOP Reps. Nancy Johnson, Christopher Shays
and Rob Simmons.
In the New Orleans mayoral race, it's incumbent Ray Nagin versus Lt. Gov.
Mitch Landrieu in the May 20 runoff. Both are Democrats, and Landrieu, as a
member of state government, also bears some responsibility for the response
to Hurricane Katrina, potentially neutralizing one of voters' biggest beefs
with Nagin. Nagin took 38% of the primary vote to Landrieu's 22%, but Nagin
may have a tougher time building on his support by winning over voters who
chose other candidates. On the other hand, he has a month in which to reach
out to displaced voters around the country and persuade the ones who did not
cast ballots on Saturday to vote in the runoff. The state has until May 4
to certify the results, and anyone wishing to challenge the results has
until May 1 to do so. Voter turnout was estimated at 36%.
Lastly for now (but just for now), First Read is pleased to announce that
we're expanding our daily 9:00 am coverage to bring you analysis and color
on breaking political news throughout the day, with contributions from NBC
and MSNBC correspondents and producers on Capitol Hill, at the White House,
Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department, and all around the country.
Sign up for alerts at www.FirstRead.MSNBC.com.
It's the economy...
"Oil producers and consumers said oil prices will stay high during the next
few years before companies add crude output and refining capacity,"
Bloomberg reports. "Crude oil will average $60 to $65 a barrel, OPEC
President Edmund Daukoru told reporters in Doha, Qatar, where he's attending
a meeting of ministers and company executives from producer and consumer
nations."
Bloomberg also reminds us that part of the reason why prices are rising is
because of "new regulations that affect the cost of blending gasoline."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert are
expected to send Bush a letter today asking him to direct the Justice
Department and the Federal Trade Commission to look into possible gas
price-gouging, and also asking him to tell the EPA to issue waivers to make
it easier for oil refiners to produce more gas. Hill Democrats recall that
"Republicans invited big oil and gas company lobbyists to the table to write
the Republican energy bill that President Bush's own Energy Department said
would increase gas prices," as one top Democratic staffer puts it. As Bush
gives a speech on energy tomorrow, House Democrats also plan to hold an
event on the subject.
With Democrats trying to revive their charges about the Administration's
energy policy, it may be an unfortunate coincidence for the White House that
former Enron CEO Ken Lay testifies today, right in the thick of the
gas-price frenzy.
The "economic week-ahead" schedule released by the White House suggests that
both the Energy Secretary and the beleaguered Treasury Secretary will be
quite busy this week.
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White House names and faces
As Republican members of Congress return to work, the White House has a new
chief of staff, budget director, deputy chief of staff for policy, and US
trade representative, and a refocused chief political strategist. Thus far,
Josh Bolten's staff makeover has focused on the domestic policy and
communications teams -- a quick response to lawmakers' concerns about having
a clearly enunciated domestic message on which to run. Will he stop there,
or will he eventually turn his focus to the foreign policy team. One
sharp-eyed national security analyst points out that per the news accounts,
members of the core White House national security team don't appear to have
participated in meetings about staff changes thus far, and suggests that
raises the question "about when/whether Bolten moves 'out of his lane'" and
makes personnel changes on that front, or "decides they can't fix anything
so long as the sole spokesman for policy in Iraq is Bush."
In a Sunday editorial, the Los Angeles Times called for Vice President
Cheney to retire early and for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation.
NBC's Strickland advises that Democrats' talk of sponsoring a resolution for
a "no confidence" vote on Rumsfeld remains just talk at this point.
The New York Times says there is anxiety and "fear and moaning" at the White
House, as workaholic Bolten has replaced the easygoing Andy Card. "[A]fter
big staff changes last week. no one is sure who is in and who is out. Aides
say they are on edge, and Mr. Bolten has promised more housecleaning this
week, after Mr. Bush returns from a trip to California."
Bob Novak applauds the staff shakeup, but laments, "The problem is the
change in the White House probably comes 1-1/2 years too late. No matter
what his desires, Bolten is no longer able to draw upon the political
capital from Bush's re-election to take the initiative."
Disaster politics
While Nagin got more votes than any other candidate, the New Orleans
Times-Picayune points out that "Nagin is hardly a shoo-in for re-election...
62 percent of the 108,000 voters who cast ballots Saturday picked someone
other than Nagin, a sign of serious trouble for an incumbent."
Nagin did well in the areas most damaged by Katrina. - New Orleans
Times-Picayune
"White voters failed to dominate at the polls Saturday as thousands of black
voters returned home," keeping "Nagin's candidacy alive" and "casting an
estimated 90 percent of votes in his favor." Yet, the Houston Chronicle
suggests, the African-American turnout might not be as high in the May 20
runoff, because "the secretary of state's office does not plan to repeat the
massive voter education program mounted in advance of Saturday's vote."
"Runoffs, particularly in the South, are usually lethal for incumbents. If
an incumbent can't win a majority in the first round, history suggests that
he can't win a runoff. Turnout is usually lower in the runoff, further
diluting the incumbent's appeal, though New Orleans, with chaos and
uncertainty the only certainty, may present a special case." - Washington
Times
Despite both candidates' calls for race not to be made an issue in the
runoff, the breakdown of who supported whom suggests that will be difficult
to avoid, says the Washington Post. "The electorate in Saturday's election
split along stark racial lines over Nagin, who dominated in the city's black
neighborhoods of New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward but struggled
virtually everywhere else, according to an analysis by GCR & Associates, a
consulting firm working on the election for the secretary of state's
office."
More Bush/GOP agenda
USA Today lists some of the more noteworthy earmarks in the Senate version
of the war/Katrina supplemental. "The unusual battle pits President Bush
and Republican leaders concerned about rising federal budget deficits
against members of the Senate Appropriations Committee who have attached
dozens of items sought by individual lawmakers. Even more new spending will
be sought by senators during the weeklong debate... The fight comes in an
election year when members of Congress are under pressure to show they're
getting federal spending under control, especially members' hometown and
home-state spending."
The Wall Street Journal, covering "crunch time" for Republicans in Congress,
notes that "for the first time since coming to power in 1994, the party is
at serious risk of not passing a budget resolution in the House." Also: "A
juxtaposition of events on Friday illustrated how much Congress and the
Republican majority appear in denial over the negative impact of recent
scandals -- and the drift of this year. After days of orchestrating
telephone calls into his district, Republican campaign officials celebrated
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D., W. Va.) being forced to step down from the House
Ethics Committee... That same afternoon, the Rules Committee posted a final
text of a Republican lobbying overhaul bill that showed a weaker product
than the widely criticized Senate-passed version."
The Los Angeles Times says the odds are so grim for Republicans' chances of
passing any significant legislation that the situation "may call for Bush to
step in and demand more party unity from Republican lawmakers, who have
increasingly kept their distance from the White House as the president's
agenda and poll numbers have flagged."
The Chicago Tribune observes that time is running out for Congress to pass a
pension-reform bill.
The New York Times says that with the May 15 Medicare prescription-drug
benefit enrollment deadline approaching, "drug plans are expecting a surge
of new enrollment that threatens to overwhelm already busy phone lines and
leave beneficiaries struggling to figure out how to sign up for the new
plan."
The immigration debate
Frist "intends to seek passage of immigration legislation by Memorial Day by
reviving the Senate bill that stalled earlier this month," reports the AP.
"In a gesture to conservative critics of the measure, Republican leadership
aides said last week that Frist also will seek roughly $2 billion in
immediate additional spending for border protection."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has denounced the 700-mile wall along the
US-Mexico border proposed by the House immigration reform bill.
"Schwarzenegger called relying on a wall as the only means to stop illegal
immigration 'crazy.' But at other points he spoke more broadly in
opposition to the proposal, on practical and symbolic terms. He alluded to
the Berlin Wall, suggesting that such a structure on the U.S. border would
send the wrong message to Mexico." - Los Angeles Times
The Minutemen are organizing a caravan to protest efforts to, in their view,
weaken the House's tough border security bill. The caravan will begin two
days after the nationwide boycott planned by immigrant-rights activists. It
"will begin in Los Angeles on May 3 and end in the District May 12 -- with a
stop at President Bush's hometown of Crawford, Texas, on May 6 to highlight
what caravan organizers said was 'the president's lack of leadership in this
important aspect of homeland security.'" - Washington Times
The immigration debate is ruffling some feathers between the GOP and
Catholic voters at a time when the two entities appeared closer than ever,
says the AP. "While Catholic bishops and many Republican politicians share
opposition to abortion, they are often split over the specifics of
immigration changes. Church leaders are challenging, and in some cases even
vowing to defy, the tougher enforcement proposals by Republican lawmakers."
Ethics
USA Today covers the scaled-back lobbying reform measure the House will
consider this week.
House Ethics Committee ranking member Alan Mollohan (D) will be replaced on
the committee by Rep. Howard Berman while Mollohan seeks to disentangle
himself from a federal investigation into his financial dealings and
disclosures.
The calendar isn't being kind to embattled GOP Rep. Bob Ney, who's caught up
in the Jack Abramoff scandal and faces a potential criminal indictment,
notes USA Today. "Members who face criminal indictment in an election year
rarely have been able to resolve their cases before Election Day without
pleading guilty. Even with unresolved prosecutions hanging over them,
however, some of these lawmakers were still able to win re-election despite
their legal woes."
The midterms
The New York Times looks at how the two parties are pushing different issues
to drive turnout in November -- with Democrats seizing on stem-cell
research, and with Republicans looking to pass a constitutional amendment
banning gay marriage.
In his remarks to the DNC meeting in New Orleans on Saturday, DNC chair
Howard Dean told members that in more than 1,000 locations around the
country this week, Democrats will go door-to-door talking with their
neighbors about the what the party stands for. "That's six months before
Election Day." This "neighbor-to-neighbor" effort marks the first of three
being organized by Democratic state parties and the DNC; the third effort,
scheduled for September, will include training for election-day volunteers.
USA Today takes its turn covering Democrats' hopes of winning a bunch of
congressional seats in the Northeast.
The Washington Post notes the polls and wonders if GOP Sen. Conrad Burns may
be bouncing back in Montana, where Democrats have been walloping him for his
ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "For all his bravado, Burns
remains in trouble, especially in a state that generally tilts to the
Republicans. But his experience also suggests the challenge that Democrats
around the country will have in turning this year's scandals into tangible
gains at the polls."
Salon.com profiles vulnerable Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine (R), who in an interview
says that history will harshly judge Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. "What his
comments symbolize are the lengths to which jittery GOP incumbents will go
to distance themselves from George W. Bush."
The Chicago Tribune, meanwhile, does its take on the Pennsylvania Senate
race, noting that incumbent Rick Santorum (R) "is facing his most difficult
re-election ever, due partly to an uncontrollable desire to speak his mind
and partly to an unpopular president and an Iraq war seemingly without end.
Of the 33 Senate races this year, the Democratic challenge to Santorum is
the nation's marquee contest--promising big money, prominent visitors and a
referendum on President Bush's policies."
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