Normally, I try to understand what’s going on in Washington DC so I can give you an informed opinion. But I’m a little flummoxed about what the GOP is doing here. The Senate Republicans changed course and voted overwhelmingly for cloture on a bill that would strip Big Oil of a lot of their tax breaks. Then Mitch McConnell indicated that he’s eager to have a debate on the issue:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the floor Monday that “common sense and basic economics” show that raising industry taxes will send gasoline prices even higher.
“This is the Democrat response to high gas prices,” he said ahead of the vote.
“And frankly, I can’t think of a better way to illustrate how completely out of touch they are on this issue. And that’s why Republicans plan to support moving forward on a debate over this legislation, because it’s a debate the country deserves,” McConnell said.
So, it seems plain that the GOP thinks they can win a debate over protecting Big Oil’s tax breaks by arguing that the those tax breaks will lower prices at the pump. I think that’s dubious. What this also seems to demonstrate is that the Republicans think they can get a few straying Democrats to kill the bill. And they could be right. Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Mark Begich of Alaska all voted against cloture. We know how Big Oil rules Louisiana and Alaska, so I am not surprised by these defections. But if those are the only three Democratic senators who will vote with Big Oil, the bill will pass at 50-50 with the vice-president breaking the tie.
But I guess McConnell can risk losing since the House won’t do ANYTHING to upset the energy industry.
