The Political Universe 05.15.07
Posted by Jason Easley on 05.15.2007
President Bush signs an executive that tells the EPA and others to get going on making some rules that will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. I’ll tell you whether I think this will be enough to change anything. Plus, the number two official at the Justice Department resigns. Does this help Alberto Gonzales keep his job? Plus, I’ve got some new campaign commercials and plenty more in the Tuesday edition of this column.
Bush signs executive order telling agencies to come with greenhouse emissions regulations
After a recent Supreme Court ruling that found that the EPA must regulate global warming causing emissions from the nation's motor vehicles, President Bush signed an executive order on Monday directing the EPA and the Departments of Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture to take the first steps towards regulations that will cut gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. "Developing these regulations will require coordination across many different areas of expertise. Today, I signed an executive order directing all our agencies represented here today to work together on this proposal. I've also asked them to listen to public input, to carefully consider safety, science, and available technologies, and evaluate the benefits and costs before they put forth the new regulation," Bush said.
The president is using his plan to cut gasoline consumption 20% over 10 years as the starting point for these new energy regulations. "This is a complicated legal and technical matter, and it's going to take time to fully resolve. Yet it is important to move forward, so I have directed members of my administration to complete the process by the end of 2008. The steps I announced today are not a substitute for effective legislation. So my -- members of my Cabinet, as they begin the process toward new regulations, will work with the White House, to work with Congress, to pass the 20-in-10 bill," the president said. The president's 20 in 10 bill is not a bad idea. Evidence of this can be found in the fact that both Democratic 2008 frontrunners Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama have either voiced support for this bill, or their own similar alternative.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement that Democrats will be introducing their own energy legislation in the coming weeks. "Democrats are committed to achieving greater energy independence - an issue this Administration and past Republican Congresses have failed to adequately address. In the coming weeks, we will move forward with bipartisan legislation that will increase the production of clean renewable fuels, improve energy efficiency, punish gas price gougers and support research on greenhouse gas capture and storage," Reid said. It also should be pointed out that President Bush probably wouldn't have done anything without the push of the Supreme Court ruling against his administration's position that the EPA doesn't have to regulate greenhouse gases.
Harry Reid also said that he hopes this is a sign that Republicans are going to get serious about energy policy. "Six years ago this week, the Bush-Cheney secret task force made up of oil and energy company lobbyists released its report on the nation's energy policy. Since then, the Administration has rolled back environmental regulations, ignored climate change and under-funded the energy research budget. Meanwhile, our oil dependency and consumption have grown, harming our national security and leaving America vulnerable to price shocks and supply disruptions. We hope the President is finally getting serious about energy. His announcement today was mainly about organizing the bureaucracy, but if he brings forward proposals that make legal, economic and environmental sense, we will work with him as we legislate. In the meantime, I hope the President will work to make the Federal government's own energy and environmental performance better."
Energy is an issue where there should be a great deal of bipartisan consensus. Republicans can argue that they support an energy policy that would reduce the consumption of imported oil as an economic security measure. Democrats can argue in favor of this for environmental and pocketbook reasons. Democrats can say that this is good for the planet and that development of alternative fuels will cut gasoline consumption and lower the cost at the pumps.
What we need to keep in mind here though is that all of the discussed proposals won't take full affect for 10 more years. Can America afford to be dependant on foreign oil for at least another decade? Can our planet tolerate another decade of abuse? No one knows the answers to these questions yet, but it about time that the politicians finally start talking about decreasing oil consumption, instead of pretending like this is a problem that, if we ignore it, will solve itself. I doubt that President Bush could care less about global warming, but something is better than nothing, which is exactly what we have gotten out him on this issue for the past six plus years.
The political ad of the week
Bill Richardson recently came out with two new ads and they are pretty funny.
Deputy Attorney General resigns over scandal
Yesterday the second highest ranking person in the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty announced that he will resign. McNulty becomes the highest ranking member of the Justice Department to resign over the scandal involving the firing of 8 U.S. attorneys last December. Aides said that McNulty had never planned to serve more than two years as Deputy Attorney General, but his departure was sped up due to the scandal. Officially though, McNulty gave his reason for resigning as financial in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, "The financial realities of college-age children and two decades of public service lead me to a long overdue transition in my career," McNulty said. The reality is that this scandal and internal conflicts at the Justice Department, pushed him out the door.
Attorney General Gonzales, who is the person who should be resigning, had nothing but good things to say about McNulty. "The Department of Justice will be losing a dynamic and thoughtful leader with the departure of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Paul announced today that he would leave the Department later this summer after more than eight years of service," Gonzales said in a statement. McNulty's biggest mistake appears to be that he tried to be honest when testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the U.S. attorney firings. McNulty ticked off Gonzales and others when he admitted in his February testimony that one of the prosecutors, Bud Cummins of Arkansas, was let go so that a Karl Rove protégé could have the position.
McNulty also testified that the decisions behind the firings were made only by the Justice Department. He was irate when he found out that Gonzales' aide Kyle Sampson had discussed the firings with the White House. My opinion on this development can be summed up by a quote from Sen. Chuck Schumer who said, "It seems ironic that Paul McNulty, who at least tried to level with the committee, goes while Gonzales, who stonewalled the committee, is still in charge." It would seem to me that the Bush administration values loyalty over honesty. McNulty is the third Justice Department official to resign over the scandal, but I don't think this will ever go away until Alberto Gonzales steps down. What happened here was a disgrace and somebody bigger than McNulty needs to pay.
Be sure to check out….
Joe and his Rivett Report are back in their regular Monday digs. Joe describing the moderate Republicans meeting with George W. Bush as an intervention was priceless.
Ryan did a nice job with Week 43 of Politics: Fact or Fiction. This week we have Justin and Enrique in the hot seats. Question 4 was a little uneven, but not as bad as Ryan thought.
Josh White got lots of email this because he got some of the basic beliefs of Mormonism wrong. The frustrating thing for Josh was that many of those readers ignored his basic points defending Mitt Romney.
Matthew D.S. officially signed off of The Weekly Monitor this week. Matt will be writing a regular column for the zone, and I will be looking for someone to take over the Monitor. It is a big time gig, and I hope to have someone in a place within the next two weeks.
That is all the news that is fit to type on the Interweb for today, but before we both know it, Friday will roll around, and I'll be here again with a fresh new column. Have a great week, and I'll see you soon.
"The elections are heating up. In a recent interview, John McCain said the last music he bought was The Beach Boys. While Mitt Romney said the last music he bought was Roy Orbison. Apparently, McCain and Romney are both running for president in 1964." --- Conan O'Brien
"Today marks the 47th anniversary of the invention of the birth control pill. And for all you women out there that forgot to take yours, Happy Mother's Day!" --- Jay Leno
"Last night at the Boston Symphony Hall there was a fight. Between classical music fans! There wasn't even a video game involved. The whole country's going nuts. Even the animals are going nuts. There was a squirrel attack this morning at a California Elementary. He was caught though. If we give in now, the squirrels win." --- Craig Ferguson
STAY CURRENT