Republicans press oil industry on fuel supplies and prices
Republicans press oil industry on fuel supplies and prices - Americas - International Herald Tribune
Republicans press oil industry on fuel supplies and prices
By Carl Hulse The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2005
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Republicans press oil industry on fuel supplies and prices
By Carl Hulse The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2005
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON After forcing through two pieces of legislation with significant benefits for the oil industry this year, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for oil companies to return the favor by building new refineries and taking other steps to increase fuel supplies and lower gas prices.
"It is time to invest in America," the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, said Tuesday, adding 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. Moderate Republicans continued to balk at that amount.
Democrats criticized not only the Republican plan for spending cuts but also the new House approach to oil prices. The new Republican stance 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."
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.
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 House leaders wanted new refineries, expanding existing facilities could get the same result at a faster pace.
"What we are trying to say is, tell us what you want, not how to make it happen," Cavaney said, "and at the end of the day we will have additional capacity."
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