Lawmakers talk gas, drive away in SUVs

WASHINGTON — Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

Gas prices have gone above $3 a gallon again, another sign that America is addicted to oil, as President Bush puts it.

But America is in the denial phase of this addiction, as evidenced by the behavior of its lawmakers. They have proposed all kinds of solutions: taxes on oil companies, domestic oil drilling and releasing petroleum reserves. But they ignore the obvious: Americans drive too much in big, gas-guzzling vehicles.

"Since George Bush and Dick Cheney took over as president and vice president, gas prices have doubled!" charged Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., standing at a Capitol Hill Exxon station where regular unleaded hit $3.10. "They are too cozy with the oil industry."

She then hopped in a waiting Chrysler LHS (18 mpg), even though her Senate office was one block away.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., also drove the one block to and from the gas-station news conference, albeit in a relatively efficient Hyundai Elantra. He posed in front of the fuel prices and gave them a thumbs-down. "Get tough on big oil!" he demanded of the Bush administration.

By comparison, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was a model of conservation. She shooed away her driver and ducked into a sushi restaurant for lunch.

At about the same time, House Republicans were meeting in the Capitol for their weekly caucus (Topic A: gas). The House driveway was jammed with cars, many idling, including eight Chevrolet Suburbans (14 mpg).

Senators, meanwhile, were debating a war-spending bill Wednesday, but the subject turned to gas prices. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., engaged his deputy, Richard Durbin, Ill., in a riveting colloquy. "Is the senator aware that the L.A. Times headline reads today, 'Bush's Proposals Viewed as a Drop in the Bucket'?"

"I'm aware of that," Durbin replied.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., responded with an economics lesson. "Oil is worth what people pay for it," he argued.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., sounded the alarm. "We are one accident or one terrorist attack away from oil at $100 a barrel!"

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, made a plea for conservation. "We have to move quickly to increase our fuel efficiency," she urged.

But not too quickly. After lunchtime votes, senators emerged for the drive across the street to their offices.

Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., hopped in a GMC Yukon (14 mpg). Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., climbed aboard a Nissan Pathfinder (15). Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., stepped into an eight-cylinder Ford Explorer (14). Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., disappeared into a Lincoln Town Car (17). Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., met up with an idling Chrysler minivan (18).

Next came Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., greeted by a Ford Explorer XLT (14). On the Senate floor Tuesday, Menendez had complained that Bush "remains opposed to higher fuel-efficiency standards."

Also waiting: three Suburbans, a Nissan V8 Armada, two Cadillacs and a Lexus. The greenest senator was Richard Lugar, R-Ind., picked up by his hybrid Toyota Prius (60 mpg). His Indiana counterpart, Democrat Evan Bayh, was met by a Dodge Durango V8 (14).

As a political matter, Democrats clearly sense they have the advantage on high gas prices, judging from the number of speeches and news conferences.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., introduced an amendment to repeal oil-company tax breaks and distribute $500 tax rebates to consumers. It was quickly ruled out of order.

But Republicans clearly were feeling defensive. "We passed an energy bill last year, last July," House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois pleaded at a morning news conference. "It changes CAFE [corporate average fuel economy] standards. It changes some of the things that we can do; I'm sorry, changes not the CAFE standards, but changes some of the supply issues, boutique fuels, all these things."

Only Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., who can speak freely because he is retiring, noted the disconnect between rhetoric and action. "People say, understandably, 'Solve our energy problems right now, but don't make us do anything differently,' " he said on the Senate floor.

If the politics of gasoline favor Democrats at the moment, the insincerity is universal. A surreptitious look at cars in the senators-only spots inside and outside the Senate office buildings found an Escort and a Sentra (super-rich Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl's spot had a Chevy Lumina), but far more Jaguars, Cadillacs and Lexuses and a fleet of SUVs made by Ford, Honda, BMW and Lexus.

A sampling of senators' and staff cars parked along Delaware Avenue Northeast found that those displaying Democratic campaign bumper stickers had a somewhat higher average fuel economy (23 mpg) than those displaying GOP stickers (18 mpg).

A fuel-efficiency rating could not be found for the 1970s-era Volkswagen "Thing" owned by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.

Maybe, lawmakers are starting to learn. When GOP senators held a lunch Tuesday a couple of blocks from the Capitol, many took cars.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., emerged from the lunch looking for his ride when he spied The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray. Reconsidering, he set out on foot. "I need the exercise," he said.