Politico report on the maneuvering around energy that the House is attempting: while making conciliatory noises about offshore drilling, the goal is to run out the clock while letting endangered Democrats make the case back home that they’re in-line with the current polls that support all those new derricks. And why might the Dems do this?
[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s [D-Calif.] gambit rests on one big assumption: that Democrats will own Washington after the election and will be able to craft a sweeping energy policy that is heavy on conservation and fuel alternatives while allowing for some new oil drilling. Democrats see no need to make major concessions on energy policy with a party poised to lose seats in both chambers in just three months — even if recess-averse Republicans continue to pound away on the issue.
Well, okay. Pelosi’s energy preferences don’t seem that far away from the bi-partisan energy bill we wrote about yesterday, so that might stand up well in a new Congress; and yes, politics will trump policy when there are electoral considerations. We get that. (We also get that even gloomy predictions keep the Democrats below a veto-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate. So the Republicans will still have some room to play.) Read the whole thing, but if the milk curdles in your coffee, don’t blame us.
Politics? Sometimes it makes us want to holler.
Picture of Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
0 comments:
Post a Comment