CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– ENERGY
May 13, 2008 – 9:18 p.m.
Bipartisan Votes to Block Oil Reserve Deposits Don’t Change Overall Debate
By Coral Davenport, CQ Staff
With gasoline prices climbing ever higher, both chambers defied the White House Tuesday by requiring a temporary freeze on oil deposits into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
But while some have said the agreement could signal a new bipartisan movement on energy and oil policy, any movement on previously deadlocked issues is likely to be at the margins rather than on either party’s more comprehensive energy package.
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Republicans are still pushing hard to expand supply by opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling— an issue that’s a political non-starter for most Democrats and was the center of a Republican energy package that failed on the Senate floor Tuesday.
And Democrats are still pushing measures that gall Republicans, such as a proposed “windfall tax” profit on big oil companies.
That provision anchors a Senate Democratic energy package that’s also expected to fail. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said that he hopes to introduce that measure next week but that it may not be possible before the Memorial Day recess.
“I think the SPR is the first energy issue where we’ve got consensus. But we’ve got to be honest with ourselves: Getting more is going to be tough,” said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Still, Democrats and Republicans say the new bipartisanship on the SPR issue has spurred them to look for other single-issue energy items they could line up behind.
One issue that may draw supporters from both sides is increasing regulation of oil futures markets. Many Democrats contend that oil speculators are driving up the cost of oil by as much as $30 a barrel — and they are starting to draw tentative support from some Republicans.
“If there are real issues as it relates to the market and oil speculation, I think that’s fair game,” said Murkowski.
Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, who often votes with Republicans on energy issues, said that “the higher these prices go, the more bipartisanship will evolve — or be forced.”
Sen. Pete V. Domenici , the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was less sanguine on the prospect of more bipartisan consensus on energy.
“If we could have, we would have,” he said, but he added that the climbing oil prices could still be enough to make a difference — as they did for him. He changed his mind and supported the SPR measure.
Bipartisan Votes to Block Oil Reserve Deposits Don’t Change Overall Debate
Broad Endorsement
On Tuesday, as part of legislation (
Lawmakers may decide to move the House bill on to President Bush, possibly as soon as Wednesday night. Though Bush has long been harshly critical of the proposal, a White House spokeswoman indicated Tuesday that he would not veto it.
Reid said he would like to move the House bill as soon as possible, a position supported by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky.
Lawmakers from both parties conceded that the move, which would release about 70,000 barrels of oil into the market a day, is only a modest, temporary measure that would reduce gasoline costs by a few pennies per gallon and would not get at the root cause of high gasoline prices.
The bipartisan support for freezing the oil shipments represents a major shift for Republicans, who until now have generally followed Bush’s lead in contending that halting deliveries would have almost no effect on gasoline prices.
Republicans used their shift on the reserve to call on Democrats to consider some policy changes of their own — specifically, supporting efforts to expand domestic oil and gas production in ANWR and allowing exploration in coastal waters, where drilling is currently verboten.
“Last year, this Congress acted in a bipartisan way to reduce our demand for oil by increasing fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and by increasing our use of renewable fuels,” McConnell said. “But no matter how hard we might try, we cannot repeal the law of supply and demand. We know that we also need to increase supply in order to lower gas prices.”
In the House, Minority Whip Roy Blunt , R-Mo., said he is “heartened that Democrats endorsing the SPR plan at least appear to be conceding a link between greater supply and diminished price. Of course, that concession seems to dissolve immediately once the idea of adding a real supply component to an energy bill comes up.”
Don Young , R-Alaska, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, added that exploring ANWR would yield 14 times more oil each day than halting SPR deliveries.
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