GOP Blocks Heating Aid Increase For Poor

Angry Over Rejection Of Offshore Drilling, Senate Republicans Block Utility Assistance Bill

(CBS/ AP)  Republicans on Saturday blocked the Senate from considering a bill next week that would nearly double federal aid to help the poor pay heating and air-conditioning bills.

Although a dozen Senate Republicans support the measure, most voted with GOP leaders who would rather spend the time trumpeting their call to expand offshore oil drilling before Congress takes six weeks off for vacation and the presidential nominating conventions.

"The American resources on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts contain 14 billion barrels at a minimum ... more than we have imported from the Persian Gulf in the last 15 years," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

Democrats needed 60 votes to substitute the measure on heating and air-conditioning aid in place of the debate on an expansion of offshore drilling championed by President Bush and GOP presidential candidate John McCain. They got 50 votes Saturday, with 35 Republicans voting against changing the topic.

"Do we vote to keep the old, the sick and kids alive when the weather gets cold or very, very hot, or do we spend money on people who make huge campaign contributions? That is part of what this debate is about," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.

Analysts say the 8 million households that use home heating oil, mostly in the northeast, will see prices around $4.68 a gallon this winter - up $2 from last year, reports CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras. For the winter, that would mean an average cost of almost $2,600, a jump of almost 40 percent from last year.

The government is devoting $2.6 billion in subsidies for helping people with low incomes pay heating and air-conditioning bills this year. Sanders' bill would nearly double that to $5.1 billion.

While Senate Democrats said they hoped to pass it next week, Democrats in the House were looking at the popular subsidies for anchoring a second economic aid bill they want to push in September, closer to the November election.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is vehemently against letting the House vote on offshore drilling. She and Democratic leaders in the Senate also have shut down normal summer work on spending bills to prevent offshore drilling from getting a legislative footing in the appropriations committees.

[wdrussell1]

Somebody has to pay for Bush''s warmongering.
GOP decides it should be America''s poorest.

[deacon20081]

The Republicans and their financiers will be toasty warm and well fed.....even after they loose every seat in the House and Senate up for grabs in November.
"We will deprive those who need help this winter unless we get what we want"....typical.
The Strong Arm Tactics won''t work anylonger.

Just a note; Bush can not be prosecuted for cimes while still in office, impeachment of him and his appointees is the ONLY recourse available under law.
However after he leaves they are all fair game.
A Vote for a Republican will be a vote for Pardons
keep that in mind.

[ddaryl1]

its becoming more and more obvoius

Democrats = "We the People"

Republicans = "We the Corporations"

The poor in this country are about to become much poorer, and I''ve yet to hear one repub;lican actually try to address the problem of wealth distribution. With less and less money trickling down to the working classes and lower classes in the form of infrastrucutre and jobs with good pay and benefits the middle class will start to become poor, and those that already are poor will see what little they had get stretched even thinner with a whoile new generation joining the ranks.

C''mon republicans actually come up with one good idea that brings the strength back tothe working class instead of kissing the a sses of the wealthy and the corporations.

[deacon20081]

To those posters who will attack my view point as "liberal"....I was a Republican..

[macusweil]

"Republicans = We the Corporations" -ddaryl1

Government by the corporation for the corporation, preferably GOP owned and operated of course!

[macusweil]

"To those posters who will attack my view point as "liberal"....I was a Republican.."

As if liberal is something bad and Republican is good?

Give me a break, the GOP focus on self-interest is about as un-American as it gets. Anyone promoting the common good is a positive, anyone promoting their own special interest is evil, period.

[erichsh]

Great headline - designed to get the libs in a tither. Buried in the article, though, are that it''s a procedural shell game by the democrats - switching a bill''s purpose - , and pelosi will hold the rest of the country''s business hostage by not passing any spending bills in congress during the summer. that part will get roundly ignored by the msm/libs.

[erichsh]

Hmm... "wealth distribution", eh? C''mon, ddaryl1, why don''t you try to define that. Like confiscate any earnings over $200k/year? Flat-out: do you believe in the communist/socialist mantra of "take from the rich, give to the poor?" Seriously, how do you define "wealthy", and how much would you confiscate?

[Marie Zarankevich]

Very nice! -- The poor, which includes most of the disabled, do not need to stay warm in winter? -- That is only for the wealthy? -- Encourage sustainable solutions, but do not do it with money saved with the lives of the unfortunate. -- For goodness sake, little kids can not go out and earn money for heating oil so they can continue living. -- Mistakes have been made, but there is no excuse for getting rid of those mistakes by killing them off in very small increments, freezing them out, starving them, denying them medical treatment. -- That is plain evil. -- Beware the GOP, folks. -- These issues are becoming dangerous to ALL of our health.

[oneworldusa]

If Congress gets 6 weeks for vacation and other paid time off during the year, we all should.

[lemonskink]

The amount of the subsidy is close to what is being spent on killing in Iraq in Bush''s war in just one week. I hope people pay attention to the Republicans who voted, and then take the necessary steps to remove them from office in the future.

[oneworldusa]

Posted by WDrussell1 at 01:17 PM : Jul 26, 2008

-Much of the ''middle class'' ''working class'' is becoming America''s poorest, I''m afraid.

[siobama]

The Republican government is trying to give away our lands to Big Oil Corporations instead of protecting us and our land.

Oil coorporations already have enough land to exploit and explore. They have not used it in 30 years...and now they want more and more land for them.

This is robbery and the Republicans are allowing American to be robbed. Republicans are not patriotic, all they care about is their own pockets.

[steeepe]

Another reason to vote out the GOP. Those b*st*rds are only interested in their own wealth and business. They shouldn''t be representing middle class citizens. There should be more drilling all right, starting with the skulls of these idiots to find out if they have brains.

[maverickgrn]

Has everyone forgotten that our continued reliance on fossil fuels is not just an energy/environmental issue, but a public health issue as well? What happened to clean (I mean breathable) air. The GOP are a bunch of killers. Pro-life my a**.

[tbweb]

The dreaded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sells oil to the U.S. poor dirt cheap and our own GOP Republicans support turning their backs on U.S. poor for political posturing! What`s wrong with this picture?

[siobama]

People Wake Up!

Republicans are trying to trick US again! They want to take away our land and water to give them to oil companies.

Republicans have lied about Iraq where they went for oil and because it did not work out, now they want to steal our land and give it to again oil companies.

This is an outrage...they are using our good and honest nature to steal from US our resources.

Of course they are lead by a man whose name is terrifying: CAIN. Remember the Bible? Well, we should be very clear of who and what we are getting into when we vote for a person called CAIN.

[sandy19731]

Oh yes, but remember the GOP is pro life.
I''m sure all those babies will appreciate that this winter.

[erichsh]

The dreaded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sells oil to the U.S. poor dirt cheap and our own GOP Republicans support turning their backs on U.S. poor for political posturing! What`s wrong with this picture?

Posted by tbweb

So are you for socializing US oil companies? Having the government take them over? YES or NO

[antoniof123]

The blood bath that is coming for the facist party of Aemrica (The Republicans) is what they want. Most American siwng voters didn''t want this to happen but it looks like the Republicans still angry with America taken away their majority.

Okay GOP there are 22 Republican senators up for re-election almost half are in battle ground states. KY now has a Democrat for a governor. You think you are safe want to see how many fall. Don''t worry you will see it first hand.

Punish the poor morons they vote. Of course the GOP think they can stop them this year.

[tbweb]

I was shocked to see this Post too:
=====================================

Indeed, McCain does lead all other senators, and all others who ran for president, in contributions from the oil and gas industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal data in the 2007-08 election cycle. GOP McCain(R) collected $724,000 through May!!

Posted by rharrin1 at 01:01 AM : Jul 26, 2008,,,

[antoniof123]

So are you for socializing US oil companies? Having the government take them over? YES or NO

Posted by erichsh at 02:24 PM : Jul 26, 2008

If you Republicans keep it up the swing voter will shut you down not only in November 2008, but in November 2010, that should make it the super miniority for the GOP.

[sistatee-2009]

It''s becoming obvious that the poor and middle-class (if there''s any difference) cannot afford ANYTHING any longer. Whatever they can''t charge, the government must provide.

[lloydbest1]

""Hmm... "wealth distribution", eh? C''mon, ddaryl1, why don''t you try to define that. Like confiscate any earnings over $200k/year?...." Posted by erichsh at 01:45 PM, Jul 26, 2008

As tough as it sounds that question is fairly easy to answer.
The Gini factor or Gini co-efficient was developed around 1912 as a means to quantify how a variable is distributed through a population. It is a unitless number varying from 0 to 1 (or sometimes -1). A Gini number of 0 implies a perfectly equal distribution of the variable. One of 1 implies perfectly unequal distribution.
An example would be a population of five factories all manufacturing the same widget (the variable). If the total number of widgets is 5000 and each factory makes 1000 of them then the distribution is said to be perfectly equal and the Gini coefficient is 0. If one factory makes all 5000 and the rest make none, then the distribution is perfectly unequal and the Gini coefficient is 1.
My explaination and example is almost mindnumbingly simple but Google "Gini coefficient" for more in-depth coverage.
The point, though, is that it IS possible to quantify "distribution of wealth" and most people who are more knowledgable than I about wealth distribution believe that a Gini coefficent of 0.25 to 0.3 represents the ideal scheme. America''s Gini coefficient, as of 2006, was around 0.47, indicating one of the most unequal wealth spreads in the developed world.

[notfooled]

I think we should just vote anyone who has been elected more than once - out on their ear. By the time they''ve served twice they''ve been bought and paid for a dozen times over.

[element51]

This morning I watched a 90 minute session where T. Boone Pickens was testifying before a Senate panel about his energy plan. I have been against allowing the oil companies access to wilderness areas and off shore drilling but after what I heard I now have doubts that I was right. The mere fact that there is a 700 billion dollar a year drain on the US is something to think about and the fact that it is only going to increase is alarming. He offered facts and figgures to support his plan and they were very convincing. I realize that if his plan is adolpted he stands to make lots of money but if it can solve part of our problem I really don''t care how rich he gets. I suggest that you investigate this and come to your own conclusions. As a retired history teacher I do not have the expertise to really understand the ramafications here but I''m sure some of you out there do. I welcome your comments and ideas.

[rafterman1]

===Great headline - designed to get the libs in a tither. Buried in the article, though, are that it''''s a procedural shell game by the democrats - switching a bill''''s purpose - , and pelosi will hold the rest of the country''''s business hostage by not passing any spending bills in congress during the summer. that part will get roundly ignored by the msm/libs.===
Posted by erichsh

Dems use political maneuver to keep oil companies from getting richer.

Repubs use political maneuver to keep poor people freezing in winter.

Don''t even TRY and put this on Dems, your heartless b@astard.

[notfooled]

20 minutes BEFORE building #7 at the world trade center fell, the BBC announced that bldg #7 had fallen down.

10 minutes BEFORE bldg #7 fell down, a New York Fire Captain warns his men, "Move away from #7, they gonna blow the bldg."

http://911blogger.com/node/10025 for both of the above facts RECORDED LIVE.

CBS doesn''t want you to know this either apparently as they keep removing my posts.

[rafterman1]

===So are you for socializing US oil companies? Having the government take them over? YES or NO===
Posted by erichsh

For oil companies, YES. And it''s called "nationalizing". Oil and gas are strategic resources, vital to the security of the USA and should not be in the hands of companies trying to maximize these key resources for profits. If the oil companies pulled the stuff they do know back in WWII, th executives would have been hung for treason.

[rafterman1]

===CBS doesn''''t want you to know this either apparently as they keep removing my posts.===
Posted by notfooled

Probably because none of that 9-11 conspiracy cr@p is true.

[rafterman1]

===I''''ll give you one guess what his old name was.===
Posted by notmudrose

Oh geez. He/she/it is back.

[ramos937]

"The American resources on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts contain 14 billion barrels at a minimum ... more than we have imported from the Persian Gulf in the last 15 years," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.
----------------------------------------
Sen. Domenici and his allies may be right. But there is a huge problem in this. Who guarantees that the oil produced would go to the USA? For example, almost all of the oil carried by the Alaska Pipeline goes to Asian markets and not the USA.

I sincerely hope that someone posts the names of the GOP senators that voted againist this aid especially the ones up for reelection.

You know, there are some New England states that have voted to accept Hugo Chavez''s offer of free home heating fuel for their poor citizens. No conditions. Maybe he is not such a bad fellow after all?

[liberty_1776]

This "news article" is such YELLOW JOURNALISM. I''m not sure which Democrat hack wrote it, but they are definitely a socialist sc#mbag. If the author wants to live in a country where the government pays for everything from cradle to grave, move to Europe where 70% of your paycheck is confiscated by the government. This is the USA, not France.

[liberty_1776]

The author of this story is trying to help the Democrat Party take the spotlight off them, because the Dems don''t want to vote on new oil drilling. DEMOCRATS COMPLAIN ABOUT GAS PRICES, BUT REFUSE TO ALLOW US TO DRILL FOR DOMESTIC OIL!!! How crazy is that?

[spadeisspade]

Has it occurred to any of you bleeding heart liberals that drilling for domestic oil will create a long term solution to higher energy prices, therefore helping the poor in return anyway?? Individual STATES need to be the ones tailoring their aid to the poor. The real problem is Congress refusing to work into their vacation and wanting to squeeze too many things in at the last minute so that they can blame each other for dragging their feet and getting nothing done!

[irliberal]

Ahh more corrupt and pathetic behaviour from the republicans. Is anyone surprised?

[rafterman1]

===This "news article" is such YELLOW JOURNALISM. I''''m not sure which Democrat hack wrote it, but they are definitely a socialist sc#mbag. If the author wants to live in a country where the government pays for everything from cradle to grave, move to Europe where 70% of your paycheck is confiscated by the government. This is the USA, not France.===
Posted by liberty_1776

And if you want to live in a fascist country, where 70% of the wealth goes to big corporations, then move to China. If you want to live in a country where it''s perfectly fine to punish poor people because the rich didn''t get their tribute, move to North Korea.

The GOP cotinues to dig their own grave in 2008.

[pvperson]

Another example of what neo-cons call the "democrat congress". Democrats wanted to help poor people and the republicans stopped them. Come on now, lets hear from some neo-con about how the democrats are the blame for everything wrong in the US and how THEY conrol the government.

[liberty_1776]

MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY:

The citizens of the USA want to drill for more domestic oil! Why are you preventing us from drilling for more oil?!!!

[irliberal]

The republican welfare program to bail out banks went forward. The democrat bill to help poor families with heating and cooling costs gets blocked by the republicans.

Seems to me that it''s crystal clear who the problem is.

[notfooled]

===CBS doesn''t want you to know this either apparently as they keep removing my posts.===
Posted by notfooled

Probably because none of that 9-11 conspiracy cr@p is true.
Posted by Rafterman1 at 03:18 PM : Jul 26, 2008

If you''re not smart enough, or brave enough, to watch the video and hear the truth, RECORDED LIVE, then you deserve what you get.

[rafterman1]

===DEMOCRATS COMPLAIN ABOUT GAS PRICES, BUT REFUSE TO ALLOW US TO DRILL FOR DOMESTIC OIL!!! How crazy is that?===
Posted by liberty_1776

===Has it occurred to any of you bleeding heart liberals that drilling for domestic oil will create a long term solution to higher energy prices===
Posted by spadeisspade

The oil companies have 70 million acres of land to explore and drill in available to them NOW. The offshore drilling is a smokescreen to get paid big contracts to new offshore sites NOW because the sites they currently own won''t be as proftable (but no less oil rich).

[rafterman1]

===If you''''re not smart enough, or brave enough, to watch the video and hear the truth, RECORDED LIVE, then you deserve what you get.===
Posted by notfooled

You''re beimg played by people who have an agenda. Legitimate scientists and engineers have explained any inconsistencies.

[liberty_1776]

MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY:

The citizens of the USA want to drill for more domestic oil! Why are you preventing us from drilling for more oil?!!!

[notfooled]

20 minutes BEFORE building #7 at the world trade center fell, the BBC announced that bldg #7 had fallen down.

10 minutes BEFORE bldg #7 fell down, a New York Fire Captain warns his men, "Move away from #7, they gonna blow the bldg."

http://911blogger.com/node/10025 for both of the above facts RECORDED LIVE.

These are truly recorded facts citizens had to sue using the freedom of information act to obtain. You owe it to yourself and your family to watch the video, then demand your elected officials act, instead of covering up.

[element51]

curse914....Actually, both. He said that we need to also allow drilling on shore and off. He spoke quite a bit about building a wind turbine network but said that we will also need oil in the future for other uses besides fuel. He also talked about converting cars and trucks to natural gas until other alternative fuel sources can be developed. So it was not just one area that he was addressing.

[irliberal]

The oil companies have 70 million acres of land to explore and drill in available to them NOW. The offshore drilling is a smokescreen to get paid big contracts to new offshore sites NOW because the sites they currently own won''''t be as proftable (but no less oil rich).

Posted by Rafterman1 at 03:29 PM

Oh, believe me they know. They know that the claim to drill in national parks like Anwar and offshore is an empty, meaningless claim. They know they have plenty of places to drill already. They know that the ploy for Anwar and offshore is just a ploy for more power, more land, more money by the oil companies. Believe me, they know.

[ioweign]

MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY:

The citizens of the USA want to drill for more domestic oil! Why are you preventing us from drilling for more oil?!!!

Posted by liberty_1776 at 03:27 PM : Jul 26, 2008

The price of dog food just increased $2.00 for an 8 lb. bag. So I thought that to help hold down the cost, I would let my dog dig for bones in the front yard. Fido didn''t find any bones and now I have a 40'' X 70'' patch of lawn that is going to cost me $1500 to repair...

[rafterman1]

===MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY: The citizens of the USA want to drill for more domestic oil! Why are you preventing us from drilling for more oil?!!!===
Posted by liberty_1776

The oil companies have 70 million acres of land to explore and drill in available to them NOW. The offshore drilling is a smokescreen to get paid big contracts to new offshore sites NOW because the sites they currently own won''''t be as proftable (but no less oil rich).

[irliberal]

The price of dog food just increased $2.00 for an 8 lb. bag. So I thought that to help hold down the cost, I would let my dog dig for bones in the front yard. Fido didn''''t find any bones and now I have a 40'''' X 70'''' patch of lawn that is going to cost me $1500 to repair...

Posted by IOWEIGN at 03:33 PM

That''s because you''re an idiot, and your lame analogy fits about as well as Karl Rove''s pants.