It's Official: Congress is Stupid

Hugh is often prescient and yesterday was another example of his understanding of the political mind, only in reverse:

The good news is that voters are not going to be fooled by the arguments that untapped oil supplies don't matter to gas prices --if the debate actually occurs. Given the public's daily collision with the left's refusal to allow America to use its own oil, it will by legislative and political malpractice if the Republicans do not bring ANWR up for debate least monthly between now and November.

With prices rising, it may even be possible to overcome the Democrats' inevitable filibuster of exploration in the Senate.

Coupling ANWR exploration with refinary expansion and border fencing into an emergency appropriations and construction authorization bill that includes waivers from the paper-shuffling and law suit phases of major public work projects could be a centerpiece for the summer and fall debates leading to the elections.

Instead of informed action, we get…this. I’d have no less difficulty believing it came from the office of the esteemed Senator from Massachusetts. Yet--incredulously—it comes from a completely different source; one you expect to be smarter on such topics. Or at least hope is smarter on such topics.

From the Corner, a copy of a letter sent from Republican Congressional leadership to the President of the United States:

In the wake of unprecedented increases in worldwide demand for gasoline, particularly in China and India, coupled with other factors, American consumers are facing record prices for gasoline at the pump. Anyone who is trying to take advantage of this situation while American families are forced into making tough choices over whether to fill up their cars or severely cut back their budgets should be investigated and prosecuted. Therefore, we believe that Federal law enforcement agencies and regulators should take every available step to ensure that all Federal laws protecting American consumers from price-fixing, collusion, gouging and other anti-competitive practices are vigorously enforced.

We respectfully request that you direct the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to investigate any potential collusion, price-fixing or gouging in the sale or distribution of gasoline, petroleum distillates or ethanol in wholesale and retail markets. We further request that scrutiny be directed to refining, the transportation of fuel by pipelines, marine vessels and trucks, storage and marketing activities and retail practices to determine if there is any unlawful manipulation of the price of gasoline. Sweeps of retail distribution centers should be undertaken to ensure that retail price movements are in response to a change in market conditions and not price gouging. Finally, we recommend that the Federal Trade Commission examine whether spot shortages of gasoline are the result of illegal efforts to manipulate prices.

Given the severity of the current situation regarding gas prices, we believe that the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission should devote all necessary resources to expedited review of complaints of price gouging against wholesalers or retailers of gasoline and other distillates.

Additionally, we request that you direct the Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to bring heightened scrutiny to the trading of energy futures and derivatives to determine whether spikes in prices of oil, gasoline and other petroleum distillates are a result of improper market manipulation by traders or by energy firms.

We believe that protecting American consumers in these unprecedented market conditions is of paramount importance. We know that you share these goals. Consistent with our constitutional authority, we will ask the committees of jurisdiction to conduct oversight of these important questions.

Sincerely,

The Honorable Dennis Hastert The Honorable Bill FristSpeaker Majority Leader

I am officially nominating Hastert and Frist for President and VP of Moronica. With leadership this stupid, maybe we deserve to lose.