03-18-2000

ENERGY: Fill `er Up-Or Else, Says House Panel

Call it the filling station feud. House Republicans showed up at a Capitol
Hill gas station on March 15 to protest what they call the
"Clinton-Gore" gasoline price crisis. Democrats pulled in to the
pumps right behind them and offered their own made-for-television
counterattack. And a few blocks away, the House International Relations
Committee agreed on legislation imploring President Clinton to get tough
with the Arab-led oil cartel by cutting off military aid if the producers
don't boost their output.


The committee called on Clinton to rally other oil-importing nations in a
diplomatic drive to force prices down. If the oil producers balked, the
United States could cut off military assistance.


The session gave several GOP members an opportunity not only to upbraid
the White House and score a few election-year points, but also to brand
some major producers-particularly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait-as ungrateful
for U.S. military support during the Persian Gulf War.


Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman, R-N.Y., portrayed the Clinton
Administration's effort thus far to stem the rise in fuel prices as
"full of bluster and empty rhetoric" and added, "We've been
waiting in vain to see an Administration energy strategy take
shape."


Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., took the Arab oil producers to task for
their lack of gratitude. "American blood was shed to protect the
Saudis and Kuwaitis from being overrun by the criminal regime of Saddam
Hussein," he seethed. "It's absolutely criminal for those
countries to join in a price-fixing conspiracy to gouge American
consumers."


Because the bill (H.R. 3822) would not force the President to do anything
other than what he already has the authority to do, several committee
members simply crossed their fingers and hoped that passage of the measure
would send a message to the oil exporters to boost production and thus
halt the escalating price of crude oil.


"We're making ourselves feel good, but that's all it is," said
Rep. Douglas K. Bereuter, R-Neb., who acknowledged that the President
already has authority to impose sanctions against members of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries if he chooses to do
so.


Gilman said he hoped House leaders would bring the bill to the floor
before March 27, when OPEC members are scheduled to meet. "We think
that a vote before that meeting would give our bill maximum effect,"
he said.


David Hess

National Journal