John Kline blames the Democrats for high gas prices

[dflprincess]

Colonel Klink had this commentary in today's Strib. As you read this, especially the parts where he whines about the Democrats not being willing to work in a bipartisan fashion, remember that this is a man who voted against Mother's Day, because his party saw it as a way to continue to hold things up in the House.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/18815114.html

High prices: We've got to do something
By JOHN KLINE

Just 16 months ago, Nancy Pelosi accepted the gavel from John Boehner at a historic moment in our nation. She and the new majority in the U.S. House of Representatives were ushered into leadership bolstered by a repeated promise for change that included a "common-sense plan" to lower gas prices.

At the time, Speaker Pelosi and the new leadership had within their grasp an opportunity to bring members from both sides of the aisle together so Congress could pass meaningful, bipartisan legislation on behalf of all Americans.

Rather than seize the opportunity, the majority leadership squandered it, and you are paying the consequences for their broken promises by the gallon every time you pull up to the pump. In January 2007, the average cost of gas in Minnesota was $2.14 per gallon -- already too high. Sixteen months later, Congress has seen no "common-sense plan," and the average price of gas in the Twin Cities earlier this week was $3.64 per gallon. Meanwhile, the only solution offered by the majority leadership was House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell's plan for a 50-cent tax hike on every gallon....

...There should be debate on the House floor to find ways to reduce our dependence on Middle East oil and develop long-term energy alternatives.
Some say America has an addiction to oil. What is abundantly clear is our addiction to foreign oil, which is not only an economic issue but also a national-security concern. Congress should examine ways to increase domestic production, explore long-term energy solutions and advance a real energy plan that increases American supplies in all forms:

•Congress should consider opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to environmentally safe production and increasing offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. Clearly, drilling for oil in Alaska or in the Gulf of Mexico is not a short-term solution, but if we continue down this course of inaction, we may still be discussing plans for rising energy costs when gas reaches, say, $8 per gallon. The Chinese are drilling for oil on the Outer Shelf because it is off the coast of Cuba. Yet, lawmakers -- Republicans and Democrats -- in Florida and California are standing in our way, blocking any efforts for the United States to drill on the shelf some 100 to 230 miles off our coasts.
•We should build new oil refineries. While production at our existing refineries continues to rise, we have seen no new refinery construction in 30 years.

•Clean-coal technology is another exciting energy resource that we must continue to explore; we have the domestic coal reserves to power our economy for generations.

•Renewable energies like wind and solar also should be part of the equation, along with nuclear energy, which is the top source of emission-free electricity.
Years of inaction have proven too costly, and Americans are paying the price.
The time for working together and debating sensible solutions is long overdue.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. John Kline

is a dick.

That's on a good day.

[Deja Q]

2. Now I'm always willing to read both sides of the story...

And your excerpt also mentioned "Republicans", and as I haven't exactly read up on the Mother's Day issue, I can't speak with any clarity on that.

But:

* If we allow drilling in Alaska, will prices go back down? What assurances would customers have? Right now it's about the lack of refineries, and not supply. Never mind "speculation".
* Does Kline allow offshoring or not regulating toxic products that every country in the world has griped about?
* Clean coal is good. So is the re-use of our railroad system, which I've seen to an extent and railroad travel is very viable.
* Everyone says that for solar, wind, and nuclear. So let's do it, safely, with plants in strategic areas to minimize population damage if there was an accident, and built with properly priced components, with backups and redundancy, built to specifications. Pay for better quality parts, built properly. There's no reason why these can't be done, to reasonable extents to keep everyone happy.

* (only a rumor, I have not even a clue on this one.) I agree with refineries, though haven't the oil companies threatened to move that biz offshore too?

[Minnesota Raindog]

3. So what opportunities did the GOP majority seize when in power all those years?

I keep hearing all this talk about how dire things have become since Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took over. But Republicans were in charge of Congress for years before that. So what did they do about our dependence on oil? John McCain, Klink's presidential standard bearer this year, has admitted that we invaded Iraq because of oil. And Michele Bachmann, his soulmate in Congress, says that global warming is a "hoax" and "voodoo." Is it any wonder these asshats would try to blame Democrats for the opportunities they've squandered all these years--and for many years into the future?