Congress trots out tax favors as energy policy

REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD

June 19, 2005

Congress scored abysmally low approval ratings in recent polls. It's not hard to see why. Neither lawmakers nor the Bush administration is focused on the problems people care most about.

And when Congress does take up an important national topic, the legislation quickly becomes larded with favors to every special interest in Washington, tucked away in some massive, indecipherable bill.

So it is with energy policy, which the Senate began considering last week. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is helping make the Senate version superior to a version passed earlier by the House, but it remains an open question whether the final bill will be better than having no bill at all. The times demand an unwavering national commitment to achieving energy independence. This hodgepodge isn't it.