Dems return fire on fuel costs

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) presented the case of Hill Democrats yesterday in the new battle over who's to blame for skyrocketing fuel prices (and the price of everything else).

This week, Republicans followed up their rhetoric with action, introducing a bill that would force Pelosi and the Democratic majority to reveal their "secret plan" for bringing stability to fuel costs.

Pelosi's response: the secret plan was never secret, and not really a plan, either.

However, it was real, according to Democrats who are seeking to remind Republican colleagues and the Bush administration that they have passed numerous bills aimed at lowering gas prices. These moves have included bills that would target OPEC and Big Oil for "price fixing" and "price gouging," respectively.

Republicans have dismissed these efforts, which are facing veto by Pres. Bush. GOP lawmakers claim that anything punitive done to oil companies, especially removing tax breaks and fee reimbursements, will only drive prices higher.

The most recent of the Democrats' legislation is the move to halt shipments of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which is almost full. Democrats claim this will add thousands of barrels to the market and could reduce the cost of a gallon of gasoline by as much as 24 cents.

Emily Bittner, Communications Director for the Arizona Democratic Party, has now added her voice to the debate. In response to charges of Democratic inaction and irresponsibility by Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen and Communications Manager Tony Reinhard, Bittner is saying that the fault lies with the Republican Party's alliegance to oil companies.

"Democrats continue to push for ways to reduce the price to fill up," said Bittner, "from tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to expanding clean energy research to increasing fuel standards to investigating whether oil companies are fixing prices. We're fighting against the Republicans in Congress who are working to subsidize Big Oil and block our efforts by consistently voting against them.

"We understand the impact of high prices on middle class families," she continued, "especially when combined with the credit crunch and mortgage crisis - more problems Democrats in Congress are working to fix."