Congress Votes to Stop filling Petroleum Reserve, Burgess Gets It Right

From today's New York Times

“Is it a giant step? No,” said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, a leading proponent of the idea of trying to influence the price of gas by redirecting supplies from the reserve to the commercial market. “But is it a step finally, at long last, in the right direction? It is.”

Despite initial resistance from the White House, the Senate voted 97 to 1 to stop putting 70,000 barrels of oil a day in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve through the remainder of this year; the House later approved a similar bill by a vote of 385 to 25. Senators of both parties said the House bill could clear the Senate within days and be sent to the president.

Usually when you see a bill like this that is a good idea, where there is only a small minority to vote against, it's a safe bet that our Congressman Michael Burgess (R, TX-26) and his buddy Joe Barton (R, TX) are among the contrarians.

I don't know what happened, but Michael Burgess actually voted for it. How did he get permission to do something that would benefit the middle class? Oh well, we'll take what we can get.

Mike: That felt good, didn't it? Better get used to voting in your constituents' best interests, because the writing is on the wall.