Sometimes watchdogging Congress makes you feel like Bill Murray from “Groundhog’s Day.” In the movie, Bill Murray’s day continues repeating itself until he changes his ways and turns a new leaf on his life.  Just like the movie, lawmakers would rather spend their time grease their districts coffers rather than tackling the big-picture issues that our nation faces today.

Failed energy policy is a prime example. The current scuttlebutt is that the Congress is planning to recycle the failed $100 billion energy bill from last year. H.R. 6, the bloated, controversial energy bill was mercifully euthanized by the Senate last year. But, like a disfigured zombie from the movie “The Night of the Living Dead,” this bill keeps springing back to life, intent on sucking $100 billion from American taxpayers while lining the pockets of big energy welfare kings.

Rumor has it that Joe Barton (R-TX), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is confident that he can get this bill passed through the House and Senate at lightning speed now that the Republicans had run the table in the last election. Barton said earlier this week that he expects to get the bill to the floor of the House “quick”; apparently he wants to get it passed before we realized that we have been pick-pocketed.

Let me be clear, the energy bill will be nothing more than a grab bag of high-priced special interest goodies for energy companies that will cost American taxpayers and will blow a hole in the budget. But while the energy bill will no doubt demand a lot from U.S. taxpayers, it won’t offer much in return.

For one thing, don’t expect this energy bill to lower your thermostat bill or prices at the pump. Congressmen are blowing hot air, or worse, actually fooling themselves, when they say that they can string together a smattering of insignificant initiatives that will have a big impact on energy prices. The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, that the energy bill would actually raise gasoline prices while failing to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. No matter how much grease you add to this pig, it won’t have any lasting effect on energy costs.

An effective, forward-thinking energy bill would improve the reliability of America’s energy infrastructure while reducing our vulnerability to supply disruptions. And if legislators really want to have an impact on energy prices, they should focus on energy demand, where Congress has real power to make some broad, sweeping changes. The supply side of the energy equation, where Congress places all of its efforts these days, is dictated by the market, not by increasingly intrusive government intervention.

But legislators won’t bother with the big picture; they’re too busy groveling for special interest gravy and cozying up their paymasters.

This energy bill fraud will continue to repeat itself until lawmakers pass energy legislation that provides real relief to taxpayers and consumers. Throwing money at a problem doesn’t ever fix it and in the case of this legislation, it may make it even worse.  Like Bill Murray, Congress needs to change its ways, or we will be reliving this charade over and over again. 

Congress should write new legislation that fixes problems and solves our energy challenges facing us in the Twenty-First Century instead of just wasting money that we don’t have.