We’ve already seen Steve Kagen flip-flop on the general approach America should take to energy policy. He voted against expanded American energy production a number of times in the House.
Then as gas prices skyrocketed and the American people started demanding more drilling, Democrats in DC were forced to change their tune. No longer could they continue to insist on an absolute ban on off-shore drilling. So in late August, Cong. Kagen hopped on a conference call with Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushing her energy bill, which is a total sham that will make virtually no difference, but allowed him to claim he supported expanded American drilling (even if the expansion was so minimal as to be useless).
Then in the House this week, Congressman Kagen hopped off the Pelosi bandwagon and onto a bipartisan alternative that would allow for greater drilling, known by its sponsors, Abercrombie-Peterson. The Abercrombie-Peterson bill had a bipartisan slate of co-sponsors, including Steve Kagen. It was less pro-production than the House GOP alternative, but far more so than the weakling bill emerging from the Speaker’s office, which would not impact American production or the prices people pay at the pump until 2030! On Monday, here’s what the Green Bay Press Gazette said about Kagen and Abercrombie-Peterson:
Kagen, who signed onto the bill Tuesday, said the Abercrombie-Peterson bill “really is a comprehensive energy policy and a road map forward.”
“That bill has the balance in investing in renewable sources. It raises royalty (fees) from those who are drilling and it doesn’t limit drilling to four or five states,” Kagen said.
He said the bill also requires energy companies to actively explore for oil on federally leased land or lose the leases.
Last night, immediately before the majority party got its vote on the Pelosi-backed sop to the environmentalists, the minority party got to bring up its alternative. In this case, rather than offering up the House GOP’s American Energy Act, which would pursue an “all of the above” approach, instead the GOP leadership brought forward the bi-partisan Abercrombie-Peterson bill. The House GOP leaders offered up Abercrombie-Peterson as a bipartisan compromise, expecting that the Democrat co-sponsors would support their own legislation about which they had said nice things (ie. Steve Kagen above). After all, the bill was drafted in a bipartisan way, had bipartisan sponsorship, and represented a compromise with significantly expanded drilling here in America.
But last night Steve Kagen wilted under pressure from Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and the Democratic leadership (so did 23 of his Democratic colleagues). He voted against the motion to recommit; he voted against the bill he was co-sponsoring. This is more than just a general flip-flop, it is a very specific flip-flop: on Monday, he was telling the papers he was for it, on Tuesday, he voted against it. So when Steve Kagen poses for holy pictures or tapes an ad talking about drilling, REMEMBER THE FLIP FLOP:
On Monday, Steve Kagen praised and co-sponsored the bipartisan Abercrombie-Peterson bill to expand American energy production, before he voted against it on Tuesday.
Last 5 posts by Daniel- Tom Barrett's Savings Plan - June 8th, 2010
- C.J. Abrahamson on J. Stevens - April 11th, 2010
- Why always Bill Bablitch? - March 24th, 2010
- Suhr on Nixon on Health Care - February 23rd, 2010
- Did the USCCB Foresee Dead People? - February 8th, 2010
Another flagrant act of journalism, Dan. Kagen never ceases to amaze. My question is: what were the people smoking when they elected this guy? He’s out of control. Maybe once the electorate in his district comes down from their collective buzz, they’ll understand what a bad choice they made. Or maybe they won’t.
Biggest kick in the pants of that Roll Call was Abercrombie voting against his own bill.
That may be a first.