Talk about stuck of stupid. Instead of dealing with either the supply situation or refining capacity shortfall, the House passes a bill utterly incapable doing anything to help motorists at the pump. Josef Hebert, Associated Press, reports [1]:
WASHINGTON – Decrying near-record high gasoline prices, the House voted Tuesday to allow the government to sue OPEC [2] over oil production quotas
And
“We don’t have to stand by and watch OPEC dictate the price of gas,” Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (news [3], bio [4], voting record [5]), D-Mich., the bill’s chief sponsor, declared, reflecting the frustration lawmakers have felt over their inability to address people’s worries about high summer fuel costs.
Instead of passing stupid bills, Conyers needs to read Bitsblog and learn how to take real action to lower the cost of gasoline, here [6], here [7], here [8] and here [9].
Congress can take action to lower the price of motor fuel: increase domestic production, drill in ANWR an off offshore; eliminate the tariff on inported ethanol; eliminate the legal barriers to new refinery constuction.
In short, there are plenty of action Congress could take to lower the cost of gasoline, if Congress had but the will to act.
More, James Taranto, Opinion Journal [10]
(H/T photo: Democracy for New Mexico [11])