$3 gas and brutal winter heating costs have the potential to kill Republicans at the polls next year, and record energy company profits
ain't helping.
After a massive surge in oil prices created record earnings -- Exxon Mobil alone recently posted a nearly 11-figure quarterly profit -- even some of Washington's staunchest defenders of big business have eyed the industry's brimming coffers and openly asked whether government and consumers shouldn't share in the good fortune.
But just how far will the Republican-controlled Congress go to silence complaints that too little has been done to help consumers feeling gouged by soaring energy prices?
On Wednesday the public may get its best sense yet of the mood in Washington, when Republican leaders summon top oil executives before two Senate committees to defend their record profits. The notion of some form of windfall-profits tax is on the agenda.
Congressional Democrats initiated the call for a tax on oil profits and have introduced half a dozen pieces of legislation to impose a levy on the industry.
Republicans are sweating this one. Soaring home heating costs this winter are apt to inflict another body blow on Bush and his cronies, fueled by the rampant GOP-sanctioned greed of the GOP-backed oil companies. Exxon Mobile scored a $10 BILLION quarterly profit, while the next four largest energy companies added $22 billion. And that's just for the last three months.