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Another factor contributing to the high cost of energy is that America’s refining capacity has been stagnant for 30 years, the last time a new refinery was built. Like ANWR exploration, Congress repeatedly has blocked efforts to build more refineries and expand capacity. It has done the same with the use of nuclear energy. Congress also is “considering bills to raise taxes on domestic energy production, impose new and costly mandates on producers, and demand dramatic emissions cuts that would shut down coal plants, and increase reliance on expensive natural gas,” as President Bush stated.

Finally, there is no end in sight for Federal subsidies to multi-millionaire farmers. These subsidies, as this column has noted before, cost American taxpayers millions of dollars a year, are wasteful, and generally hinder the development of more productive farmland and the planting of market-driven crops. Yet Congress shows no inclination to cut subsidies from the current Farm Bill.