The energy bill that will live or die on the floor of the U.S. Senate today is a full 1100 pages long. In public, though, it’s been reduced to competing soundbites. Arizona Senator John McCain says the only ones who will benefit from this bill are “hooters and polluters,” referring to its support for an “environmentally-friendly shopping mall” that includes the aforementioned cultural establishment as well as oil and gas industries, which this legislation favors.
North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan defends the bill’s $2 billion subsidy for ethanol saying, “It’s growing our energy in our fields.” But The Wall Street Journal says the bill serves up nothing but bacon and that its authors “have greased more wheels than a NASCAR pit crew.” Power, politics and pork.
Guests:
Darrin Ihhen, president, South Dakota Corn Growers and ethanol producer
Gail Chaddock, senior Congressional correspondent, The Christian Science Monitor
Karen Wayland, Acting Legislative Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
Jerry Taylor, Director, Natural Resource Studies, The Cato Institute.