Energy Bill

The last week before the winter recess was a busy one. An energy bill, "omnibus spending" bill, and a showdown over a surveillance bill. There was an investigation started about destroyed CIA interrogation tapes, and hearings about a KBR gang rape case from Iraq. There was an AMT fix too.

The biggest news on the energy bill was the first increase in fuel economy standards since the 70's. It also started out with renewable energy requirements for utilities and a canceling of tax breaks for oil & gas companies from a few years ago. Luckily with the aid of multiple veto threats from Bush the Senate's republicans were able to get these out of the bill. They were opposed to it since it could be considered raising taxes, and might mean higher prices at the pump. It might be ironic that Bush is opposed to eliminating tax breaks he claimed to be opposed to when they were first proposed. It would seem convenient to oppose them when there was a republican congress that was sure to pass them, then apparently when there is a chance they may actually get taken away, the story changes. Lest you get confused this wasn't related to the unpaid royalties that no one is collecting, it also wasn't about the royalty reductions from Bill Clinton's years.

Bush also threatened to veto the energy bill unless it assigned the DOT the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions instead of the EPA. On a related note, the EPA just told California and 16 other states that they can't regulate it at all themselves, and Arnold promised to sue.