Economy & Budget

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is clearly relishing the rift between House Republicans and the Bush administration over how to respond to the housing crisis.

In a Tuesday letter, Frank scolded Rep. Spencer Bachus (Ala.), the top Republican on the Financial Services panel, for sending him a letter Monday asking Frank to delay action on a giant housing package moving through Congress.

Instead, Bachus wrote that he favors enactment of just a portion of the legislation, a measure reforming oversight of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Frank noted that adhering to Bachus Read more...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) crossed swords again Thursday over tax-relief issues in the Senate, after McConnell offered to endorse offsets to tax-relief proposals and Reid responded that he was "pleased" but did not directly embrace the proposal.

Read the full story about McConnell's proposal at TheHill.com.

Download McConnell's letter here.

Here's Reid's response:

"Under the policies of the Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress, hard-working Americans have seen their incomes decrease while the cost of living continues to rise. They are feeling the squeeze from everything from energy costs, to housing, to health care and education, while Republicans have chosen to side with the President and block any effort to turn this economy around.

While I am pleased that Republicans appear to have abandoned their fiscally-irresponsible ways when it comes to the extenders bill, it is hard to comprehend why Senators McConnell and Grassley would choose to cut programs to help working families, seniors and veterans in need of health care in Kentucky and Iowa in an effort to protect multi-national corporations and hedge fund managers."

-J. Taylor Rushing

According to Rasmussen, 67 percent of Americans support oil drilling off the nation's coasts and 64 percent think it will lower gas prices.

House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-Ohio) office circulated the poll today as House Republicans push drilling as their solution to high gas prices.

The federal government prohibits offshore drilling, and Republicans have called for the ban to be lifted. Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) will offer an amendment to lift the ban tomorrow at an Appropriations Committee markup, the leadership office said.

Republicans have accused Democrats of inaction on gas prices, while House Democrats have blamed oil companies and market manipulation for high prices. House Dems have passed legislation to create a Department of Justice task force to investigate and prosecute oil cartels, and Democratic senators have called for regulation of oil futures speculation.

Rasmussen surveyed 1,000 "likely voters" on June 13 for the poll.

Senate Republicans blocked an attempt Wednesday by Democrats to move a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits. The GOP objection to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) unanimous consent request virtually ensures that Democrats will add the politically popular measure to the supplemental war bill that the House plans to pass this week. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill over the unemployment-insurance extension.

-Manu Raju

From The Hill's Jessica Holzer:

House Democrats will take another shot at raising taxes on a large portion of private equity and hedge fund managers

House Republicans, in their push to ease restrictions on oil drilling, are crying foul that China drills for oil 50 miles off the coast of Florida while U.S. companies must sit on the sidelines.

The House GOP leadership office today circulated an op-ed Rep. George Radanovich (R-Ca.) has published in the Modesto Bee, in which Radanovich says, "China, thanks to a lease issued by Cuba, is drilling for oil just 50 miles off Florida's coast...Suffice to say that China doesn Read more...

Most Americans want oil released from U.S. reserves and for oil companies to drill in protected areas, according to a poll released by Gallup.

The poll found that 58 percent of Americans want oil released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while 57 percent want Congress to allow oil companies to drill in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas now off limits.

Republicans in Congress are now pushing a plan, unveiled last week, to lower gas prices, which includes both releasing oil from the strategic reserve and expanding drilling rights for oil companies.

The poll surveyed over 1,000 Americans aged 18 or older. See the results below. Read more...

As Congress fights over who is to blame for high gas prices, and passes bills seeking to address the issue, a new poll has found that few Americans have faith that the price will drop or even stay the same.

According to a new Rasmussen poll, 71 percent of American adults think gasoline will reach $5 per gallon by the end of the summer, while 21 percent said it is unlikely that gas will reach the $5 mark. Rasmussen surveyed 1,000 adults by phone on May 21 and 22.
The House moved May 20 to create a Department of Justice task force to investigate foreign and domestic oil companies for potential price gouging and conspiracy to alter market prices. The House also passed a bill, with the goal of lowering the price of oil, calling on President Bush to stop purchasing oil to deposit in the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve. Republicans have blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for high gas prices, dubbing recent increases the "Pelosi Premium."

The House of Representatives voted this afternoon to create an oil antitrust task force at the Department of Justice (DoJ), and to allow foreign oil cartels to be prosecuted in U.S. courts.

As House Republicans have demanded a solution to high gas prices from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Pelosi posed today's vote as a strong answer.

"The House today with a strong bipartisan and veto-proof margin voted to hold foreign oil cartels and Big Oil accountable," Pelosi said in a statement that called the bill a move "to protect American consumers."

House Republicans have recently blamed Pelosi for high gas prices. In floor speeches and press releases, they have pointed to an increase in gas prices since Democrats took the majority in Congress in 2006, dubbing the increase the "Pelosi Premium." Read more...

For Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), the housing crisis has hit close to home.

"My personal story is that the house right next to [mine] has been in foreclosure for a year and my property value dropped 20 percent this year," he told the Rochester Post-Bulletin in a story about Congress's attempts to soften the impact of the crisis.

Walz and Democrats in both chambers support expanding the power of the Federal Housing Authority to insure refinanced mortgages, though conservative Republicans worry about the bill becoming a bailout for homeowners who don't deserve one. The House has already passed its bill and the Senate is working on a similar one. President Bush, however, vowed earlier this month to veto the House bill.