I Get Letters

From the R&F mailbox...

Craig,

Someone forwarded me your blog post, and while I normally don’t respond, I thought you should know that H.R. 3893, the Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005, never became law. After House passage, it was sent to the Senate, where it died at the end of the 109th Congress. (You might have noticed that our 10/07/2005 release at the time said: “H.R. 3893 has been sent to the Senate for further action.”)

You should probably correct your post, as you imply that the GAS Act became law in 2005. It didn’t. And that’s unfortunate.

Best Wishes,

Martin

Duly noted Martin, but I'm not sure where the correction is warranted. Perhaps I should have noted that the legislation never became law, that's a fair criticism. I was more interested in Souder's never ending campaigning, and inability to affect change in this important issue.

If the Democrats are having trouble passing effective energy legislation than it appears that the Republican dominated Congress of 2005 had similar difficulties. Why would a resurgent Republican majority be any more effective? That's a rhetorical question, by the way. I actually understand the complicated nature of the U.S. Congress, a reality you or the Congressman seems unwilling to acknowledge in your constant criticism of the House majority.

Which brings me to this from July 2005:

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder voted today for House passage of the House-Senate conference report to H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which includes important ethanol provisions that will benefit farmers. The House passed the agreement by a bipartisan majority of 275-156.

“The comprehensive energy plan that we just passed includes important provisions relating to ethanol and biodiesel that are extremely important to our farmers,” Souder said. “The legislation extends tax credits for ethanol, biodiesel and other alternative fuels, and it provides for a renewable fuel standard that will begin at 4 billion gallons being blended into the nation’s fuel supply in 2006 and increase to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.”

“Biodiesel fuel production is a key part of our strategy to reduce our dependence on foreign energy supplies,” Souder continued. “In addition, increased biofuel production will help lower fuel prices and have a positive environmental impact. Too often our farmers are forgotten; this time they weren’t.”

How's that working out?