{"id":1562221,"date":"2022-07-20T07:35:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T11:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1562221"},"modified":"2022-07-20T07:35:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T11:35:40","slug":"how-conservatives-can-force-votes-showing-democrats-are-behind-high-gas-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-conservatives-can-force-votes-showing-democrats-are-behind-high-gas-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"How Conservatives Can Force Votes Showing Democrats Are Behind High Gas Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-conservatives-can-force-votes-showing-democrats-are-behind-high-gas-prices%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1562221&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/gas-scaled-e1658259682312.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Thanks in large part to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/07\/14\/manchin-rejects-climate-tax-elements-of-party-line-dem-bill-00046018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resistance<\/a> from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Democrats appear to have lowered their ambitions for reviving the \u201cBuild Back Bankrupt\u201d tax-and-spending legislation. Last Friday afternoon, President Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/07\/15\/biden-manchin-senate-00046144\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suggested<\/a> that the Senate use the <a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2017\/05\/11\/need-know-budget-reconciliation-senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">budget reconciliation process<\/a> to pass a bill imposing price controls on prescription drugs, while also extending Obamacare insurance <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/03\/02\/how-democrats-covid-bill-gives-welfare-to-the-wealthy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subsidies to the wealthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But even if Democrats have now pared back their big-government legislation to focus \u201conly\u201d on advancing socialized medicine, conservatives still have an opportunity to highlight the way in which \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/16\/polls-show-bidenflation-is-killing-democrats-with-minority-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bidenflation<\/a>\u201d has harmed the economy. Republicans can and should offer numerous amendments to this reconciliation bill that would expand energy exploration, highlighting how Democrats want to keep American energy in the ground \u2014 and keep gas prices as high as possible.<\/p>\n<h2>The Policy<\/h2>\n<p>Language adopted by the Senate in 2005 serves as a potential model for lawmakers. In that year, the Senate passed a reconciliation bill that allowed for energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).<\/p>\n<p>The language from 2005 (beginning on page 105 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/109\/bills\/s1932\/BILLS-109s1932es.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>) holds importance for two reasons. First, it didn\u2019t just permit energy exploration within ANWR \u2014 it attempted to force the administration\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n<p>It explicitly said that Congress \u201cauthorizes the leasing, development, production, and transportation of oil and gas\u201d within ANWR. It directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct lease sales by a date certain. In addition, it deemed existing reviews and findings compatible with requirements under existing federal law. It also said that the Secretary \u201cshall only identify a preferred action for leasing and a single leasing alternative, and analyze the environmental effects\u201d only for those two leasing options for purposes of complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). It required challenges to the NEPA review to be filed within 90 days in a specified federal court. Lastly, it stated that \u201cjudicial review of a decision of the Secretary to conduct a lease sale under this section \u2026 shall be limited to whether the Secretary has complied with this section.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These legislative provisions made very clear: Congress wanted to support energy exploration within ANWR; the administration had to take very specific steps to advance that goal; and environmental groups could not use NEPA or other federal laws to bog these exploration efforts down in endless red tape and litigation. Amendment language this prescriptive would provide little \u201cwiggle room\u201d to a Biden administration desperate <em>not<\/em> to expand American energy.<\/p>\n<h2>The Politics<\/h2>\n<p>Second, the 2005 language got blessed by the parliamentarian as complying with the \u201cByrd rule\u201d tests for <a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2017\/05\/11\/need-know-budget-reconciliation-senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">budget reconciliation<\/a>. Even though the Senate-passed ANWR language got stripped from the final reconciliation bill President Bush signed into law, the fact that the parliamentarian blessed the ANWR language gives it particular importance.<\/p>\n<p>While any senator can offer an amendment during a Senate <a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2017\/07\/26\/9-things-need-know-coming-obamacare-vote-rama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vote-a-rama<\/a> on <a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2017\/05\/11\/need-know-budget-reconciliation-senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">budget reconciliation legislation<\/a>, constructing an amendment that requires a simple majority for passage takes more effort. Germane amendments must pertain to subject matter within the jurisdiction of the reconciliation instructions, not increase the budget deficit over 1-, 5-, and 10-year periods, and not contain \u201cextraneous\u201d material outside the purview of budget reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>Amendments that cannot meet these strictures will require a 60-vote threshold for passage, to waive point(s) of order under the Congressional Budget Act. Since the Senate currently consists of 50 Republican and 50 Democrat members, at least ten Senate Democrats must vote for these non-germane amendments for the amendments to succeed \u2014 meaning Democratic leaders could give their vulnerable members a \u201cpass\u201d to vote for politically difficult proposals, knowing the amendments will not get adopted.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, energy exploration amendments will require only a simple majority for passage, as they meet all three tests:<\/p>\n<p>The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over energy exploration, received a reconciliation instruction in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/117\/bills\/sconres14\/BILLS-117sconres14enr.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">budget<\/a> Democrats passed last summer. Even if Democrats\u2019 \u201cslimmed down\u201d budget reconciliation bill only includes health care provisions, lawmakers would still have every right to offer amendments within the Energy and Natural Resources Committee\u2019s jurisdiction, and have those amendments be considered germane to the underlying bill.<\/p>\n<p>Legislation expanding energy exploration, which will result in additional royalties to the federal government, by definition will reduce and not increase the deficit.<\/p>\n<p>The parliamentarian previously advised in 2005 that the energy exploration amendment did not constitute \u201cextraneous\u201d material.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, a single Democrat voting for the amendment, coupled with the support of all Republicans, will lead to its passage. And with the Senate evenly divided, Republicans can point out that, in the case of an energy exploration amendment that fails along party lines, every Senate Democrat \u201ccast the deciding vote\u201d to keep oil and natural gas in the ground \u2014 and gasoline prices higher.<\/p>\n<h2>The Strategy<\/h2>\n<p>Republicans should offer numerous energy exploration amendments \u2014 the more, the better \u2014 echoing the 2005 language to Democrats\u2019 reconciliation bill. If Republicans make only clerical changes to the rubric from 2005 (e.g., substituting dates, place names, etc.), the Senate parliamentarian should bless them as requiring only a simple majority for passage.<\/p>\n<p>Republican lawmakers can then sit back and watch Democrats squirm. If even one \u201cmoderate\u201d and\/or vulnerable Democratic lawmaker \u2014 whether Manchin, Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), or others \u2014 votes for the amendments, they could pass.<\/p>\n<p>Passage of energy exploration amendments would infuriate climate activists, who even as gas prices have approached $5 a gallon are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/15\/climate\/biden-inflation-climate-manchin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pressuring Biden<\/a> \u201cto stop new drilling for oil and gas as well as coal mining on federal lands and waters,\u201d The New York Times reported. Conversely, if Democrats stay united and all vote against the Republican efforts, it will show how the Democratic Party supports higher gas prices \u2014 the prime issue facing American families today.<\/p>\n<p>Few things would more starkly define the stakes in the upcoming midterm elections than to have Senate Democrats vote dozens of times to keep gas prices high. And few things would do a better job of sealing Democrats\u2019 fate in November.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, and author of the book, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/chrisjacobshc\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>. Previously he was a senior health policy analyst for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a senior policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation\u2019s Center for Health Policy Studies, and a senior policy analyst with the Joint Economic Committee\u2019s Senate Republican staff. During the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, Jacobs was a policy adviser for the House Republican Conference under then-Chairman Mike Pence. In the first two years of the law\u2019s implementation, he was a health policy analyst for the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Jacobs got his start on Capitol Hill as an intern for then-Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science and history from American University, where he is a part-time teacher of health policy. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks in large part to resistance from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Democrats appear to have lowered their ambitions for reviving the \u201cBuild Back Bankrupt\u201d tax-and-spending legislation. Last Friday afternoon, President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1562221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1562221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1562221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1562221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1562221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}