WASHINGTON — With the Senate deadlocked over a bill to tighten regulation of energy futures markets, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., has let fly with some of his most partisan comments to date, calling the Democrats’ focus on oil speculators a smokescreen on real problems of energy supply and demand.
“What’s on the floor right now is a great example of unfortunately what happens around here sometimes,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a ‘ready, fire, aim’ mentality. This bill is another example of focusing on the wrong thing.”
The Democratic bill on the floor would set limits on trading in oil markets by investors and speculators, as Democrats contend that rapid increases in oil prices have been accompanied by increased trading activity on oil futures by pensions and hedge funds.
“Short-term Wall Street traders ... never intend to actually own or use the oil they buy — only to keep buying and selling and pocketing the profits,” Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. “The problem is, the American people are stuck paying the bill every time we fill up our gas tanks.”
Sen. Corker’s comments came days after a recent news conference where he said Democrats are “majoring in the minors” by not welcoming more domestic oil production from offshore drilling and oil shale exploration.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
The Senate voted on Tuesday, 94-0, to limit debate on the motion to consider the oil speculation bill. The vote reduces the time for debate on the motion to 30 hours, but Democrats and Republicans appear no closer to compromising on the bill itself.
“My daughters learned about supply and demand in elementary school,” he said Thursday. “I am so frustrated at our lack of using the God-given intelligence we have as people to solve a very basic problem.”
High gas prices have dominated conversations on Capitol Hill, but the two parties remain at odds over how best to address them.
Republicans argue that the increased regulation could cause a decrease in the liquidity of oil futures, potentially driving up prices further. Instead, they have pushed their plan to study the futures market for signs of manipulation, while also opening up the outer continental shelf to drilling and investing research into plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Democrats largely have been dead-set against expanding oil drilling, which they say would take at least a decade to bear fruit while harming the environment.
“If (Sen. Reid) doesn’t bring up a bill that includes finding more American energy as well as using less energy, that will say he’s not serious about $4 gas prices,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said.
Meanwhile, the House last week rejected a Democratic-backed bill that would have forced oil companies to use millions of offshore acres they already have under lease before acquiring leases on additional land, in a use-it-or-lose-it provision.
The bill also would have expedited the leasing of 20 million acres in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and banned the foreign export of Alaskan oil.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., was one of a few Republicans who sided with the Democrats.
“We’re for an all-of-the-above strategy,” Rep. Wamp said. “Politically, I don’t want to gain an advantage on this issue. The Democrats are finally coming to the table, and instead of slapping them back, I want to say, ‘Come another step.’ We need this place to come together.”
