Some more comments on the $100 gas rebate checks

When I wrote in my previous post about Congress enacting legislation to provide $100 rebate checks to all Americans in response to the high gas prices, I didn't catch this little detail on the story. So this is actually from a CNN.Com story regarding the gas rebate checks:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every American taxpayer would get a $100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

However, the GOP energy package may face tough sledding because it also includes a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose.

Democrats are also expected to offer their own competing proposal, as members of both parties jockey for political position on the gas price issue.

The energy package, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa, Ted Stevens of Alaska, Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, will be offered as an amendment to an emergency spending measure now before the Senate funding the Iraq war and hurricane relief, according to a senior GOP leadership aide.

I LOVE IT! Ted Stevens and Rick Santorum co-sponsored this legislation to provide the $100 rebate checks to Americans. Now Ted Stevens sponsering this legislation, I can understand. For not only is this a bill that would give each American a $100 rebate check to offset the high gas prices they're facing, but there's also a nice little provision in there that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling for Big Oil--and you can bet that $100 rebate check that both Senator Ted Stevens and the Big Oil execs have been salivating over drilling in ANWR. So what is really happening here is that Ted Stevens is trying to buy your vote to allow Big Oil to drill in ANWR--for a measly $100 bucks!

Oh, and by the way, according to this 11/9/2005 US Newswire release, Ted Stevens, Republican, Alaska, received $368,890 from oil and gas interests since 1990. And it appears that another sponsor of this lovely $100 rebate check bill, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Dominici, Republican, New Mexico, also received $574,087 from oil and gas interests since 1990. Coincidence?

Now we come to Little Ricky Santorum. We're talking about the Pennsylvanian senator, who is not only the number three man in the Senate, but also the darling of hard-lined conservative and Religious Right wing-nuts. It is interesting that Little Ricky has also signed on to this $100 gas rebate check scam. What is Ricky expecting to get out of this scam? According to OpenSecrets.org, Rick Santorum was getting $132,300 for the 1999-2004 Senate election cycle. So Santorum is certainly going to be favorable to legislation that benefits Big Oil, but perhaps not to the point that Stevens or Dominici are advocating. I'd say that Santorum has got another little problem--he's behind in the race against Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey. Consider this little Feb. 13, 2006 story off of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

HARRISBURG, Pa. - More people said Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey holds mainstream views than does Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, the man he hopes to unseat in the November election, according to an independent poll released Monday.

Casey also continued to hold a double-digit lead over Santorum, including leads in the populous eastern and western parts of the state. Santorum leads in the 29-county central region, according to the poll by the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University.

In the poll, 59 percent of people surveyed believe Casey holds "mainstream" views, versus 49 percent who said that about Santorum. Ten percent called Casey "extreme" compared to 34 percent for Santorum. The rest did not know enough to express an opinion, or had no opinion.

Casey also leads Santorum, the two-term incumbent who is the Senate's No. 3 Republican, by 51 percent to 36 percent. In a Keystone Poll released last week, Casey held a 50 percent to 39 percent lead. About one in 10 voters remained undecided, according to both polls.

Santorum and Casey are expected to face off in one of the most competitive and closely watched Senate races in the country. The race is expected to cost a combined $50 million, which would make it the most expensive Senate race in Pennsylvania's history.

Santorum has aligned himself so closely with both President Bush and the Religious Right wing-nuts, that he is no longer considered "mainstream" by his Pennsylvanian constituents. And he's behind Casey by double-digits in the polls (I don't have any current poll numbers on the Santorum race). Little Ricky Santorum is in trouble. Now we have this little issue of exploding gas prices that are affecting Americans--and Pennsylvanians--pocketbooks. And you can also bet that $100 rebate check that Pennsylvanians are just as mad at the rising gas prices, and they may just reflect their anger at the polls--say bye-bye Little Ricky. So Rick Santorum is going to do something about those high gas prices that are affecting his constituents--he wants to give those hard-working Americans--and Pennsylvanians--back their gas money in the form of $100 rebate checks.

Can you say Little Ricky is trying to buy the Pennsylvanians' vote for a measly $100 each?

It appears that our congressional legislators think that our votes are not worth much these days.