Gas, Guns & Politics

Oil and water don't mix, but oil and politics do.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told CBS News' Face The Nation on Sunday that the Clinton administration's "quiet diplomacy" on oil would result in lower prices at the pump.

When OPEC ministers meet in Vienna on March 27, they are expected to boost oil output.

Richardson said, "If that increase is sizable and in a timely fashion, that in late spring and early summer, you will see a gradual decrease in gasoline and diesel prices."

On Sunday, the Energy Secretary began a new round of diplomatic meetings with oil ministers from Nigeria, Indonesia, Algeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

But if an OPEC increase isn't big enough, Richardson added the Clinton administration hasn't ruled out tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if an OPEC increase isn't big enough. Even so, new offshore drilling in Florida and California and drilling in Alaska will not be an option.

"These are ecologically and environmentally sensitive areas. We don't need to do that. There is enough domestic production that would be available in the United States."

Richardson told Face The Nation that oil-producing and oil-consuming countries agree that the price of crude must be stable.

"We don't want this volatility: $10 a barrel too low, $30 (a barrel) too high."

Also Sunday, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani once again blamed the Clinton administration for not acting fast enough and tough enough on rising oil prices.

"This is the mayor that, when I was at the U.N., wanted to get the U.N. out of New York," replied Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "This is the mayor who used to blame for me the diplomatic parking problems at the U.N., so I don't take his criticism very seriously."

Giuliani, a Republican, is running for the U.S. Senate from New York against First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat.

Gun control loomed large on the Sunday talk show circuit as the White House and the National Rifle Association engaged in more rhetorical fireworks.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said the N.R.A. is reckless in its rhetoric.

But N.R.A. executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said his charge that President Clinton has "blood on his hands" was meant to prove a point.

Lockhart and LaPierre appeared on NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday. LaPierre said his words illustrate the lack of enforcement of Federal gun control laws, while Lockhart replied gun crime is down since Clinton took office. LaPierre added the administration should have a "zero tolerance policy" in cracking down on gun-toting felons.

On Face The Nation, House Judicary Chairman Henry Hyde called LaPierre's remarks which set off the N.R.A.'s war of words with the White House an "extreme statement."

"People can say what they want to say. I don't support that language. I don' think it's helpful. I would never make that statement. I wish it hadn't been said," said the Illinois Republican.

"Now short of a personal condemnation, which I will never make, that's my opinion of that statement."

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are haggling over a compromise on gun control legislation that includes safety locks and new background checks at gun shows.

"They want the issue rather than the solution --- and that's pretty sad," said Hyde of Democrats who don't want find common ground.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said he opposes any checks that would put gun shows out of business.

Also on Face The Nation, the Utah Republican described gun shows as "the only place where decent law abiding citizens can sell their weapons and have an instant check."

"We would like to make sure that they continue in some sort of freedom, so that we have some checks and we have some system where people who are law-abiding can sell their guns without going to the streets to do it."

Hatch chided the Clinton administration for lax enforcement of federal gun control laws, adding that Congress has provided enough money to do the job over the years.

"This administration is asking for more gun control and they're not willing to enforce the 25,000 laws, rules and regulations already on the books."