Texas Insider Report: Washington D.C. President Obama asked Congress for a 6-fold $52 million increase in the surveillance and enforcement staff at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission 
Tuesday morning saying it was necessary to better deter oil market manipulation. The White House is rolling out its latest effort to show the public hes got rising gasoline prices in his sights.
Also needed is more CFTC spending on technology to monitor suspicious energy trades increased penalties for manipulative behavior and permission to boost the amount of money traders must put behind their own positions.
House Republicans are stepping up their focus on energy exploration as part of their effort to make higher gasoline prices a major issue in their campaign against President Obama and his economic policies.
Republicans announce their effort Tuesday when the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy & Power is scheduled to consider two bills designed to ease environmental restrictions that Republicans contend increase gas prices.
The Obama Administrations package wont have any effect on prices at the pump unless lawmakers agree and it will be met with tepid support at best on the Hill especially from Republicans who have a totally different approach centered on more domestic oil and natural gas exploration and a freeze on new regulations for car and refinery emissions.
Democrats have answered Republican charges citing increased domestic energy production in the past three years and citing Wall Street speculators" as the cause for price increases.
Minority LeaderNancy Pelosi D-Calif. also cited the record profits" of Big Oil."
Democrats and other critics of the GOP strategy also counter that fuel prices are determined by broad international economic and political factors which have little to do with domestic actions.
There is a positive story to be told about the economy and the countrys changing direction" said Joshua Freed vice president for clean energy at Third Way a centrist Democratic think tank citing increases in domestic energy production and a surplus in natural gas supplies.
Boehners recent criticisms have been business as usual" and his only options are oil and natural gas" Freed said.
Let the Budget Battle Begin
This years version of the budget wars began Tuesday morning when Republican House appropriators announced they will be moving to cut 3 from the Obama Administrations Budget Request for the Energy Department the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers. This is thought by many to be the least politicized and most bipartisan of the dozen annual appropriations packages that typically move through Congress on an annual basis.
The GOPs $32.1 billion alternative which will take its first legislative step tomorrow would essentially freeze the energy and water budget for the coming year.
The Democrats running the Senate however will give initial approval to two other spending bills this afternoon Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-HUD. The Senate bills would give the president almost everything he wants with the most notable exception that the presidents cherished high-speed rail initiative will be shortchanged to finance a more robust roster of public works grants to the states.
On the same day the space shuttle Discovery will have buzzed the Capitol the Washington Monument and the White House hitching a 
ride aboard a Boeing 747 for the final flight in its 149-million-mile history before going on display at the Smithsonian.
An Appropriations subcommittee will call for an increase in NASAs budget above the $17.7 billion the president has asked for.
The moves on both sides of the Capitol are preliminary and offers few clues regarding trends in this years budget debate other than this: The House and Senate deliberations are not at all coordinated and are destined to drag on deep into the fall well past the start of Fiscal Year 2013 which begins in October.
Numerous analysts are already predicting a lame duck following the November Election. That will be almost assured when the House makes a procedural maneuver later this week designed to lock down the GOP majoritys commitment to spending $19 billion less than the Senates Appropriations Bills.
With a total pie above $1 trillion 2 may not sound like much but as any couple who disagrees about the finer points of a family budget knows even the smallest amount of dissonance can yield big discontent if allowed to fester for too long.
ride aboard a Boeing 747 for the final flight in its 149-million-mile history before going on display at the Smithsonian.
An Appropriations subcommittee will call for an increase in NASAs budget above the $17.7 billion the president has asked for.
The moves on both sides of the Capitol are preliminary and offers few clues regarding trends in this years budget debate other than this: The House and Senate deliberations are not at all coordinated and are destined to drag on deep into the fall well past the start of Fiscal Year 2013 which begins in October.
Numerous analysts are already predicting a lame duck following the November Election. That will be almost assured when the House makes a procedural maneuver later this week designed to lock down the GOP majoritys commitment to spending $19 billion less than the Senates Appropriations Bills.
With a total pie above $1 trillion 2 may not sound like much but as any couple who disagrees about the finer points of a family budget knows even the smallest amount of dissonance can yield big discontent if allowed to fester for too long.
