If you are searching today for the Official Congressional Finger of Blame, I would suggest checking the Senate side of Capitol Hill, where two committees will look at energy futures markets as one cause of the jump in oil prices.
I'm not sure there's a 3-D map at congressionalfingerofblame.gov or anything like that (maybe someone can start it) but if there is something that unifies the two parties right now on this subject, it is definitely those pesky oil futures traders.
I won't even attempt to explain how they do what they do, but I do know that sometimes it seems to me like legal gambling, which is unfortunate, because craps and blackjack tables in the halls of Congress (with oily black chips) would be much more interesting.
Lawmakers remember some of those phone tapes from the Enron scandal where traders were screwing with the California electricity market, and many of them wonder whether some of the same manipulation and speculation is causing the recent run up in oil and gasoline prices.
Officials at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission say they are doing a better job keeping track of the trades in oil futures and that it isn't the Big Bad Wolf of the oil markets.
Something tells me that tougher regulations on oil futures trading might provide a way for lawmakers in both parties to hang their hats on legislation that would try to reign in high prices, without savaging Big Oil at the same time.
Throw in a little commodity trading language, some stuff on letting the Justice Department sue OPEC and a few other items and suddenly you might start peeling away a few GOP votes, even if there's not ANWR in the bill.
As for ANWR, if you think that the current oil price situation might result in a major change of heart by Democrats on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge right now, my advice to you is stop taking all your medicine at the same time.
Democrats will only cave on ANWR when the world is collapsing around them. But they will eagerly seek out other ways to make it look like they are finding ways to crack down on out of control trading.
After lawmakers return from their July 4th break, we will have a much better idea of who is ready to deal and who is ready to stand fast.
In the meantime, stay tuned.
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