May 02, 2006

Not only has Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist led Republicans through one of the most corrupt, irresponsible deficit-spending reigns in U.S. Congressional history, Frist was more recently responsible for 1) trying to buy time for a Dubai-based firm's take over of U.S. ports, 2) an investigation into his alleged involvement in insider trading, and 3) now wants to give you and me $100 to treat those cash-strapped oil companies that are hosing the American people for the highest profits in American corporate history.

That's just how a Frist Administration would roll.

Limbaugh was right. This deal does insult the public's intelligence. A $100 rebate check would buy a measly two tanks of gas. For that, Americans are expected to get on board with oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a bad idea that has risen from the dead once again as an attachment to the rebate legislation.

Then there's the insult to financial sanity. Your $100 check wouldn't really be your money. It would be borrowed money, added to the frightful mounting tab this nation is leaving for your descendants to clean up.

Deservedly, the rebate plan has ignited an angry backlash from across the political spectrum. The New York Times reports a surge of constituent messages to Republican senators, "ridiculing the rebate as a paltry and transparent attempt to pander to voters in advance of the midterm elections."

This blowback hits hardest on Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader who aspires to the presidency. The rebate stinker is mostly his baby.
[The Senate Republicans' $100 Misunderstanding - Oregonian - 05-02-06]

How does Bill Frist plan to pay for his ridiculous plan? His solution is no different from any irresponsible teenager or how Republicans have paid for everything over the past 6 years: they charge the bill for their exploits to your credit card.

Frist, the Tennessee Republican, had proposed an accounting change that would have required oil companies to pay more taxes on their inventory of crude as a way to pay the one-time rebate which GOP leaders rolled out last week as they scrambled to find ways to ease public anger over soaring gasoline prices.

In a statement, Frist said he will still push the rebate, but abandoned the accounting change and said the Senate Finance Committee planned a hearing on the issue in the near future.

Frist gave no indication how the rebate, estimated to cost about $10 billion, will be paid for, although he said he still planned to "find a way to bring our proposals to the Senate floor for a vote."
[Sen. Frist Backs Off Oil Co. Tax Increase - WashingtonPost - 05-02-06]