Republicans Ask Oil Industry for Help With Fuel Prices
Republicans Ask Oil Industry for Help With Fuel Prices - New York Times
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 - After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, House Republican leaders on Tuesday called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supply and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," said Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who said that in a period of soaring industry profits, "we expect oil companies to do their part to help ease the pain American families are feeling from high energy prices."
The decision by Republicans to take aim at an industry that is typically a chief ally reflected mounting anxiety among lawmakers about the political fallout from soaring fuel prices.
It came as House Republicans continued to find it difficult, on another front, to move forward with budget cuts they hoped to showcase as evidence of renewed commitment to smaller government.
Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is serving as majority leader because Representative Tom DeLay is under indictment in Texas, said Tuesday that he was uncertain whether Republicans would vote later this week on a general call for $50 billion in cuts as moderate Republicans continued to balk at the amount.
But Mr. Blunt said eight House committees were developing specific plans for spending reductions that the party intended to pursue in what he acknowledged would be a grueling test of party unity.
"At the end of the day," Mr. Blunt said, "that is probably the hardest work we have to do."
While the House struggled, the Senate continued to move toward a vote next week on its own package of about $35 billion in spending cuts as the Finance Committee, on a party-line vote of 11 to 9, approved legislative proposals estimated to save $10 billion in Medicaid and Medicare over the next five years.
Senator Gordon H. Smith, Republican of Oregon, said the measure struck "a very delicate balance," trimming payments to health care providers without hurting beneficiaries.
Democrats, who have uniformly opposed the cuts in the House and the Senate, said the committee should first have taken action to guarantee health care for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
A group of Senate Republicans pressing for more reductions to pay for the cost of hurricane relief laid out some of their specific proposals for offsetting the emergency aid, proposing an estimated $125 billion in savings.
Among their proposals were a pay freeze for all federal employees excluding law enforcement and military personnel, a two-year delay in the start of new Medicare drug coverage and a 5 percent cut in all federal spending other than national security.
"We want to make sure those people who were affected by these catastrophic storms get the aid they need," said Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, "but that we make some sacrifices elsewhere so we don't pass this enormous bill on to our children."
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices, which followed approval this year of a major energy bill and a separate refinery measure that delivered billions of dollars in industry subsidies and other incentives to oil companies.
"Unfortunately for Speaker Hastert and his special-interest cronies," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "one photo-op press conference isn't going to change the fact that he has been pushing the very legislation that has led to record profits for the oil industry every chance he gets."
Mr. Hastert and other senior Republicans said they did not intend to try to force the industry into action and were not considering a new tax on oil profits. But they said the industry needed to take steps to prevent price gouging and to show Americans that some of the gains were being put back into projects that could aid consumers being squeezed at the pump.
"If you couple that with the fact that we are seeing record profits by the oil companies," said Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia and chief deputy to Mr. Blunt, "there are questions being raised by our constituents across America wondering how such a situation could exist."
Industry officials said they could understand lawmakers' frustration. But they said that the steep increase in prices could be attributed in part to disruptions caused by the gulf hurricanes and that prices were returning to pre-hurricane levels.
Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said that while the leadership was pushing for new refineries, expansion of existing facilities could accomplish the same result at a quicker pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Mr. Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting for this article.
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 - After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, House Republican leaders on Tuesday called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supply and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," said Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, who said that in a period of soaring industry profits, "we expect oil companies to do their part to help ease the pain American families are feeling from high energy prices."
The decision by Republicans to take aim at an industry that is typically a chief ally reflected mounting anxiety among lawmakers about the political fallout from soaring fuel prices.
It came as House Republicans continued to find it difficult, on another front, to move forward with budget cuts they hoped to showcase as evidence of renewed commitment to smaller government.
Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is serving as majority leader because Representative Tom DeLay is under indictment in Texas, said Tuesday that he was uncertain whether Republicans would vote later this week on a general call for $50 billion in cuts as moderate Republicans continued to balk at the amount.
But Mr. Blunt said eight House committees were developing specific plans for spending reductions that the party intended to pursue in what he acknowledged would be a grueling test of party unity.
"At the end of the day," Mr. Blunt said, "that is probably the hardest work we have to do."
While the House struggled, the Senate continued to move toward a vote next week on its own package of about $35 billion in spending cuts as the Finance Committee, on a party-line vote of 11 to 9, approved legislative proposals estimated to save $10 billion in Medicaid and Medicare over the next five years.
Senator Gordon H. Smith, Republican of Oregon, said the measure struck "a very delicate balance," trimming payments to health care providers without hurting beneficiaries.
Democrats, who have uniformly opposed the cuts in the House and the Senate, said the committee should first have taken action to guarantee health care for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
A group of Senate Republicans pressing for more reductions to pay for the cost of hurricane relief laid out some of their specific proposals for offsetting the emergency aid, proposing an estimated $125 billion in savings.
Among their proposals were a pay freeze for all federal employees excluding law enforcement and military personnel, a two-year delay in the start of new Medicare drug coverage and a 5 percent cut in all federal spending other than national security.
"We want to make sure those people who were affected by these catastrophic storms get the aid they need," said Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, "but that we make some sacrifices elsewhere so we don't pass this enormous bill on to our children."
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices, which followed approval this year of a major energy bill and a separate refinery measure that delivered billions of dollars in industry subsidies and other incentives to oil companies.
"Unfortunately for Speaker Hastert and his special-interest cronies," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "one photo-op press conference isn't going to change the fact that he has been pushing the very legislation that has led to record profits for the oil industry every chance he gets."
Mr. Hastert and other senior Republicans said they did not intend to try to force the industry into action and were not considering a new tax on oil profits. But they said the industry needed to take steps to prevent price gouging and to show Americans that some of the gains were being put back into projects that could aid consumers being squeezed at the pump.
"If you couple that with the fact that we are seeing record profits by the oil companies," said Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia and chief deputy to Mr. Blunt, "there are questions being raised by our constituents across America wondering how such a situation could exist."
Industry officials said they could understand lawmakers' frustration. But they said that the steep increase in prices could be attributed in part to disruptions caused by the gulf hurricanes and that prices were returning to pre-hurricane levels.
Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said that while the leadership was pushing for new refineries, expansion of existing facilities could accomplish the same result at a quicker pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Mr. Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting for this article.
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