It's snowing outside. It's a perfect snowfall, quiet and heavy. Several inches have already piled up, and the skies promise more. It's supposed to be our first big winter storm, and I love it. Winter storms are always fun. The days are so short, and they fade quickly to night, as the snow keeps falling. It's fun trudging through the snow to get to the mailbox, and bundling up to leave the office after work. I even like shovelling the driveway, but I'm just weird that way.
Winter is here for the long haul, now. It's been a cold December. We've had 659 heating degree days so far this month, compared to 387 at this time last year. Winter in Wisconsin means we keep those heaters running, and that takes a lot of energy.
Last month, unanimous Democratic opposition
defeated an omnibus spending bill that would have, among other things, slashed funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. In the end, the program received a significant funding boost, from $2 billion to $5.1 billion. But that's not the end of the story, which turns out to be a set piece example of the Republican culture of corruption. The manner in which the thing was (and is being) sold to the American people, the way in which the
budget reconciliation process was abused to pass the legislation, and the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the scam, are fascinating.
First of all, the problem is real. Heating prices have skyrocketed, winter is setting ing, and many Americans depend on the program, literally for their lives. The Department of Energy projected last week that natural gas prices would increase by 44% this winter over last year, and that other energy sources would see similar increases. Madison Gas & Electric have raised their rates by 51% over the winter of 2004-05:
Most of our energy here in Wisconsin comes from natural gas, and the same is true across the upper Midwest. Much of New England, by contrast, uses heating oil. It's safe to say that, when it comes to heating with natural gas, Wisconsin is ground zero.
Bob Ney (R-OH), who voted for the defeated bill, now trumpets his support for the program in the Chillicothe Gazette:
This is why I am continually fighting in Washington to increase funding for an important program - the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). [...] Congress recognized the vastly reduced purchasing power of this important program and increased the authorization from $2 billion to $5.1 billion in the newly enacted Energy Policy Act.
Rep. Ney has received $119,839 in contributions from the oil and gas industry, and he also voted for the energy bill earlier this year, which was packed to the gills with corporate subsidies to the industry. So it's no real surprise that he supports the increased funding, despite his earlier vote to cut it. "I voted for people freezing to death, before I voted against it." Having ended all manner of regulatory oversight of the energy industry, he now wants to use public money to accomplish the public ends that regulation used to serve. In this way, the backlash against the unpopular policies is assauged by borrowing money from future generations of Americans. As an added bonus, that public money ends up in the pockets of the newly deregulated industry, driving their record profits even higher.
This is offensive politics, but what makes it truly hideous is the way in which our tax dollars are being spent. The goal of keeping everyone warm in the winter is not achieved, and indeed seems to be secondary to other, more lucrative ends.
All fifty states saw increases in their share of LIHEAP funding, but if you assumed the money would be directed primarily at those states where winters are cold and heaters run on natural gas, you should probably be voting Democratic in the future. The Republican Congress just doesn't work that way.
Wisconsin received an extra $2 million in funding, bringing the state's total to $77 million. That's an extra 37 cents per resident. Remember, this is a multi-billion dollar program. Only two states saw smaller increases than Wisconsin: Maine (50th) and Minnesota (49th). Iowa came in at 47th. Yep, that's right. Large, cold-weather states faired poorly all across the board. Michigan (44th) and New York (43rd) also got screwed.
Who were the big winners? Texas, Florida (!), and North Carolina all saw increases that was more than Wisconsin's total. The fierce winters in Texas will be ameliorated by an additional $81 million, an increase of 175%. Of the ten states who benefited the most from this giveaway, 8 were in the Deep South. The other two were Arizona and Nevada.
To reivew: Republicans deregulate the energy industry, resulting in Enron-type scams, rapid increases in prices, and record profits that are higher than any other industry, ever. They then pass an energy bill giving billions of our tax dollars to these same companies, in the name of encouraging exploration and drilling. The industry's profits are driven still higher.
Several months later, the Republicans attempt to cut heating assistance for the nation's cold and impoverished, despite the fact that energy prices are at record highs. The Democrats win that round, and the attempt fails. Undeterred, the GOP then increases funding for heating assistance, but in the form of, you guessed it, subsidies to the energy industry. The funding is directed towards warm-weather states where it will do no good.
Republican government in a nut shell. Cut taxes, increase spending, waste what you spend, and then borrow the shortfall from our children. How depressing. I'm going to make some hot chocolate and watch the snow coming down outside.