Ugh, Part II

Instead of forcing Republicans to make a bad vote on SCHIP, the Democratic leadership is likely to force their own party to make a bad vote on energy.

Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman John Larson (Conn.) said the majority is prepared to back "responsible" offshore drilling through a bill that could be brought to the floor as early as [this] week.

But the Democratic energy bill will also include past provisions pushed by the party – but that failed to pass the House with the two-thirds majority required under the procedural rules that Democrats chose to use – including the "use it or lose it" provision and a release of oil from the strategic reserve.

"We will consider responsibly opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling while demanding that Big Oil companies use the leases they have already been issued or return them to the public," Larson said Saturday in the Democratic response to the President’s radio address.

At least on this one, I understand the play here. They're going to try and force the Republicans into voting against drilling because of their fealty to Big Oil. I just don't have a lot of confidence that they can make that argument to the greater public. Republicans will just say that "the Democrat leadership hasn't given us an upperdown vote on drilling now" or something. And because the moratorium on drilling offshore has to be reinstated every year, and I fully expect the GOP to vote no on anything including that moratorium, I fully expect the cave to be coming along any day now.

Meanwhile, our side is at least using our activist tools.

As many as 100 protesters stormed a press conference by House Republicans on the West Front steps of the Capitol Monday, as GOP lawmakers argued that the American public supports their plan to address the high cost of gasoline.

The press conference came at the end of a six-week long energy protest on the House floor, with Republicans occupying an empty chamber and demanding Speaker Nancy Pelosi hold a vote on their energy plan that includes increased domestic drilling [...]

At one point, a protester interrupted, yelling “you’re an idiot!”

The protest was organized by Environment America, the League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups.

Meanwhile, anything that's done on the domestic side will pale in comparison to the rumblings at the OPEC meeting that the cartel will ease production in an effort to grow the price. Oil has dropped 30% from its height due to lowered demand (somehow that never gets mentioned in this debate), and OPEC needs that number back to $140 a barrel or else their citizens will have to forage for berries to eat. The idea that any domestic production would matter in 10 years when OPEC can turn off the spigot today is ludicrous.

...Democrats in Congress ought to pounce on this.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's public transportation systems logged a 5.2 percent jump in ridership in the second quarter, according to industry figures to be released Tuesday, as record-high gas prices pushed people to take millions more trips on buses and rail systems.

Mass transit here, mass transit now.