Hastert plans to speak with industry officials

Lawmakers are eager to soothe consumers who are angered by rising prices.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON -- With Americans likely facing a winter of record heating bills, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he will summon the leaders of the nation's largest oil and gas companies this week to demand they reinvest their profits in ventures that will produce more fuel and lower prices for consumers.
"I intend to bring the CEOs here and sit down and talk to them," Hastert, R-Ill., said in an interview Friday. "I want to look them eyeball-to-eyeball."
Hastert also said he has twice urged President Bush to take advantage of his bully pulpit and push the industry to use a portion of its multibillion-dollar profits to help consumers.
"The president could do a lot just by jawboning people," Hastert said. "If anybody could talk to them, the president of the United States could. That's his world."
Anxious for solution
The promise of painfully high heating bills on top of already uncomfortable gasoline prices has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle rushing to propose legislative solutions. Republicans, in particular, are increasingly worried that they will suffer the wrath of voters for not finding a solution because they control the House, the Senate and the White House.
"The perception is that Bush and Cheney are Big Oil people, and we're in charge here," said Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill. "And if we don't start doing something about this, people are going to be very angry with us."
Aides to Hastert say that this week, they will ask the heads of Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Marathon and Valero to meet with the speaker in his office. Hastert intends to confront them directly, saying that if they refuse to act, they may face a windfall profits tax that many lawmakers from both parties are anxious to enact.
"I'm going to say to them, 'Look it, you can increase capacity. We can build that pipeline from Alaska to the Midwest; we can look at coal gasification as an alternative; we can do more in the area of doubling the size of our capacity,'" Hastert said, arguing that long-term investments would soothe the short-term anxieties in the marketplace and bring down prices.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has directed the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Commerce Committee to hold joint hearings Wednesday to find out why the nation is experiencing such startling energy prices.
Executives from several major oil and gas companies are expected to face hostile questioning from senators of both parties, who will ask why the companies are chalking up record profits and what they plan to do to boost domestic production of oil and gas.
People see profits "that are booming, going off the chart," said Frist. "And we have constituents, naturally, calling and writing and e-mailing and saying, 'How could that possibly be?'"
One company that seemed to anger lawmakers particularly was Exxon Mobil, which reported $9.9 billion in profits for just the third quarter of this year.
Democrats' criticisms
Democrats say the Republicans are responsible after years of giving taxpayer subsidies to the corporations that are now chalking up such spectacular profits.
The majority party has long been allied with big oil and gas conglomerates, the Democrats say, and the White House held secret meetings with industry lobbyists to develop its energy policy. Bush signed an energy bill that partly reflected that policy in August.
"The Bush administration is doing nothing," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
"At least his dad, during the first Gulf War, when he thought the prices were skyrocketing for little reason, called the oil companies and said, 'Back off,' and they did. But we don't hear any of that from the White House."
Republicans' display of sympathy toward consumers and outrage at the oil companies, is hardly genuine, Democrats say.
"Oil and gas companies give overwhelmingly to Republicans," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., charging that the GOP's energy legislation was never designed to help lower prices at the pump. "And they gave $14 billion in taxpayer subsidies to companies that are making historic, record profits."
In an interview, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats are eager to enact a windfall profits tax on the companies, as well as shift the nation to alternative fuels. And she had this warning for Republicans:
"You can be sure as we strive to change the status quo that the American people, especially in districts in the Midwest and Northeast, will know who's on their side and who's on the side of big oil."
Hastert's perspective
Aides to Hastert say he has no plans to drop the issue.
"I drive a pickup truck at home," he said. "Every time I pull up to the gas pump and fill it up, it's $60. Can I afford $60? Yeah. A family that's feeding five people on a fixed income, it's tougher. I understand; it takes a bite out of my wallet."
At his home in Plano, Hastert is also facing the prospect of dramatically increased heating bills this winter.
"Our gas bill last year doubled from what it was the year before, and it's going to double again this year," he said.
"People want to take care of their families; they have to do these things; you can't freeze people to death or let the pipes freeze -- so these are things you need to do."
Placing blame
Even while various ethics scandals are consuming Washington, political analysts say voters are more likely to be concerned about high energy prices, which hurt them directly every day.
David Winston, a Republican pollster, said surveys show that more and more voters believe that the high prices are no longer the result of market forces. One recent poll showed 59 percent believed the costs were a result of price-gouging.
Winston said voters have not begun looking at Washington to assign blame, but lawmakers need to act fast.
"If nothing is done, there's a sense of allowing this to happen, but if you aggressively intervene, the perception is you're trying to solve the problem," he said.
President's role
In Argentina on Friday, Bush said he plans to work with Congress to address the energy crisis with additional legislation.
"What can we do to deal with the energy crisis?" Bush asked. "Well, we can expand refinery capacity in the United States. I mean, it should be apparent to the members of Congress that when Katrina hit, there was massive disruptions of our own capacity to make gasoline, which put us in a precarious position for the consumers."
With Bush in Central America, LaHood said he should push Venezuela, which owns Citgo, as well as other big suppliers of natural gas to increase supply and lower prices.
"He's got to begin talking about this and articulating a point of view that doesn't just look like he's trying to protect Big Oil," LaHood said.
Warning
Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, an energy industry trade association, warned Congress against acting precipitously and passing bills that may have unintended consequences.
"You don't make long-term policy decisions in the heat of the moment, because they are very hard to correct and turn around," he said.
One measure the industry strongly opposes is a windfall profits tax, something that was last in place from 1980 to 1988.
Hastert said he does not want to institute a windfall profits tax on oil and gas corporations. But, he said, the companies should be worried that it will happen as members of Congress scramble to demonstrate to voters that they are taking their concerns seriously.
"We have to show that we're trying really to get something done," Hastert said.