Senate Dems Push Bill To Crack Down On Speculators

After weeks of getting hammered by Republicans on oil prices, Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that cracks down on oil speculating but is silent on oil drilling, and it's not clear if Democrats will even allow a vote on domestic oil exploration.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may be opening a Pandora's box of sorts by inviting debate on energy policy while preventing votes on lifting prohibitions on off shore and Arctic oil drilling. But Republicans will be in a tough spot as well, because they may have to choose between blocking the only energy legislation moving through the Senate and backing more regulations on oil traders.

Reid has consistently said he believes the country can't "drill its way" to oil independence, but he also has not committed to allowing any votes on more domestic oil drilling. Instead, on Wednesday Reid and other Democratic leaders focused their guns on the easy bogeyman of Wall Street oil futures traders.

"Right now, Wall Street traders are raising gas prices with nothing more than the click of a mouse," Reid said. "Without regard for anything but their own profits, traders are bidding up prices by buying huge quantities of oil just to sell them at an even higher price."

And Reid also took the obligatory shot at the "oil men" in the White House.

“For nearly eight years, the Bush-Cheney Administration has turned a blind eye to this increasingly excessive speculation, which has driven oil future prices to record levels and directly contributed to soaring prices of gasoline at the pump," Reid said.

 Republicans say they're not against investigating speculators in the oil market, but they believe the Democratic bill is way too narrow given the larger energy crisis.

"But trying to address the high cost of energy and our dependence on the Middle East by only dealing with the futures markets is no more than nibbling around the edges," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office wrote in a memo released to the media. "It will have the same impact as bailing water from a sinking ship with a Dixie Cup."
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