Getting an Early Jump on Jimmuh Carter's Second Term

Not content to wait until Barack Obama is elected to Jimmuh Carter's second term, the Senate Dems are bringing back Carter's windfall profits tax policies in an effort to tax their way out of an energy crisis. Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader, isn't having any of it:

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will need 60 votes Tuesday to proceed with the oil tax legislation in the face of a threatened GOP filibuster. If he doesn’t get 60, he likely will pull the bill from the floor.

Only last week, Reid was forced to withdraw a measure aimed at addressing global warming, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance that legislation…

…Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has acknowledged that Americans are hurting from the high energy costs but strongly opposes the Democrats’ response and has ridiculed those who “think we can tax our way out of this problem.”

Oil executives, testifying before Congress last month, called the proposed taxes “punitive” and warned that they would discourage domestic oil and gas exploration and production, possibly causing prices to rise instead of fall.

The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the major oil companies, has been reminding lawmakers that in the early 1980s, when the government imposed windfall profits taxes on oil companies domestic oil production dropped and imports increased. But Democrats reject the comparison. The Senate proposal would impose a 25 percent tax on profits over what would be determined “reasonable” and would allow oil companies to avoid paying the tax if they invest the money in alternative energy projects or refinery expansion.

Hopefully John McCain will not make it back for the vote, because based on this statement pointed out by Michelle Malkin, he's likely to come down on the wrong side of the issue:

MCCAIN: “Um, I don’t like obscene profits being made anywhere–and I’d be glad to look not just at the windfall profits tax–that’s not what bothers me–but we should look at any incentives that we are giving to people, that or industries or corporations that are distorting the market.”

Dems are foolish enough to believe that they can impose burdensome taxes on the oil industry and the industry will simply absorb the extra costs without passing them along to consumers. Of course, that won't happen. Any new taxes inflicted on the oil producers will end up being collected at your local gas station.

McConnell is in a tough re-election fight and we better not lose him. Right now he's the most effective conservative on the planet.

UPDATE: The vote fails, the bill is dead. Move on...nothing to see here....