Frist's energy "solution" dies hard
Bill Frist's moronic proposal has met with all the scorn it deserved, and it's no more. I'm not sure if most people accepted it for what it was-- a $100 loan to cost $150 in debt later-- or just that it was patently absurd. Hopefully most people really thought about what it meant. The GOP is willing to increase taxpayer debt as far as it can if it means continuing corporate welfare during a time of unprecedented profits.
Frist's stupefying counterattack on the Today show this week: "It's Clinton's fault."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, under pressure from business leaders, has retreated from a plan that would have used a tax increase on oil companies and other businesses to fund a $100 gasoline rebate for millions of motorists.
Frist, the Tennessee Republican, had proposed an accounting change that would have required oil companies to pay more taxes on their inventory of crude as a way to pay the one-time rebate which GOP leaders rolled out last week as they scrambled to find ways to ease public anger over soaring gasoline prices.
In a statement, Frist said he will still push the rebate, but abandoned the accounting change and said the Senate Finance Committee planned a hearing on the issue in the near future.
Frist gave no indication how the rebate, estimated to cost about $10 billion, will be paid for, although he said he still planned to "find a way to bring our proposals to the Senate floor for a vote."
The Onion has a nice take on the whole thing:
Frist's stupefying counterattack on the Today show this week: "It's Clinton's fault."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, under pressure from business leaders, has retreated from a plan that would have used a tax increase on oil companies and other businesses to fund a $100 gasoline rebate for millions of motorists.
Frist, the Tennessee Republican, had proposed an accounting change that would have required oil companies to pay more taxes on their inventory of crude as a way to pay the one-time rebate which GOP leaders rolled out last week as they scrambled to find ways to ease public anger over soaring gasoline prices.
In a statement, Frist said he will still push the rebate, but abandoned the accounting change and said the Senate Finance Committee planned a hearing on the issue in the near future.
Frist gave no indication how the rebate, estimated to cost about $10 billion, will be paid for, although he said he still planned to "find a way to bring our proposals to the Senate floor for a vote."
The Onion has a nice take on the whole thing:
posted by Matt Sandwich | 6:27 PM
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