06-27-08 by dugan
It looks like Congress needs to rest up before doing anything about oil and gasoline prices. Our government is heading off for its long July 4 holiday after accomplishing nothing useful to combat Americans’ excruciating pain at the pump. There was talk last week in the House of Representatives about nine bills aimed at getting energy speculation under control. Two got passed, and one of them is nothing but set dressing. All the more reason to send your online letter and demand more from government.
From CNNMoney:
The Saving
Energy Through Public Transportation Act would provide nearly $2
billion in grants to lower mass transit fares over the next two years.
And the Energy Markets Emergency Act directs the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC) to use its existing authority to investigate
and curb "excessive" energy speculation.Policy analysts were not impressed. The CFTC bill is just political rhetoric, they said.
"The
bill doesn’t do anything," said Christine Tezak, policy analyst for
Stanford Group. "The CFTC is well on their way to doing what [House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi] is screaming for."
If Congress takes up more effective legislation after its July 4 recess, even the easiest bills aren’t likely to reach the White House before September. Help keep their feet to the fire.