This week, the House approved H.R. 2419, the 2008 Farm Bill by a 318-106 vote. This bill reauthorizes federal farm conservation and nutrition programs. The House also considered H.R. 2642, which was supposed to provide funds for U.S. military forces fighting overseas through the summer of 2009. However, the funding for our troops was removed from the bill, and the final version contained tax increases and additional domestic spending.

A Whole Lot of Nothing

Across the country, American families are being hurt by high gas prices. Since Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007, the average price of a gallon of gas has risen from $2.33 to $3.73, and Congress has yet to do anything about it. This inaction comes despite promises from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Democrats had a “common sense” plan to lower gas prices. Nearly 18 months later, that common sense plan is still a secret. Instead, this week the House voted on a bill to suspend the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which will reduce gas prices by a cent or two at best. Unfortunately, the passage of this bill is representative of this Congress’ inability to solve the problems facing Americans. We need to create more energy supply by promoting nuclear power, hydroelectric power, and accessing our domestic reserves. This country is not running out of energy – we are running out of energy that we are allowed to use. For years Congressional Democrats have refused to allow access to our vast domestic oil reserves available in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off the coasts of California and Florida. As long as we are unable to access our own sources of energy, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is necessary for our country’s security, which is why I opposed the bill when it came to the House floor. This country needs real solutions to lower the price of energy at the pump and in the home – instead, what we get is inadequate legislation that will have little, if any, impact on gas prices.

Polar Bears: A Means to an End

The global population of polar bears has more than doubled in the past 40 years. In fact, the roughly 25,000 polar bears alive today is perhaps a record high. Then why this week did the Department of Interior add the polar bear to the list of endangered species? In 2005, environmentalists sued the government to force the listing of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act because the sea ice polar bears inhabit has been melting (as it has done before throughout the earth’s various cycles). The Endangered Species Act of 1973 triggers an automatic listing when a species loses habitat space, forcing Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne – who recognized the motives of these green radicals but was powerless under the law to stop them – to list the polar bear as endangered. Environmentalists were not concerned for the polar bears’ well being; this was an opportunity to strengthen their inevitable lawsuits in order to give courts the opportunity to legislate climate change policy from the bench while subverting the democratic process. This is despite a study done last year by NASA which suggested that the shrinking ice cap has nothing to do with “global warming.” As the Wall Street Journal pointed out shortly after the decision, “Polar bears are not the fragile, vulnerable creatures of liberal iconography. They have thrived in the Arctic for thousands of years, both through periods when their sea-ice habitat was smaller, and larger, than it is now. They will continue to adapt – and the Endangered Species Act can't make the slightest difference.”

Quote of the Week

"I think we would have as much impact on prices, if that is our goal, if all the members of the House would go out onto the steps and clap our hands three times and say, ‘Down prices, down prices.’ That would have as much impact as passing this bill.” – House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton, discussing the impact on gas prices of legislation passed this week to halt oil shipments to the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, May 13, 2008.