Every so-called accomplishment of this GOP-led congress should...

[harlinchi]

...be revealed for the sham it is. The 2005 Energy Policy Act is one.

The GOP-led congress broadened the post-2003 Blackout energy policy discussions, which developed into the Energy Policy Act of 2005, into one which focused on expensive breaks for selected businesses. Immediately after the 2003 outage, the intent was to get control of the transmission of power, the lines for which were (and still are) maintained by individual companies but many of us forgot.

By the time this broadening was over, the Act included things like billions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil and gas industries, billions in write offs and credits for coal and billions for electrical utilities. USA Today had an informative article in 2004:

Power-grid reforms wilt as lobbyists turn up heat

...The concern is not misplaced. This month, a U.S.-Canadian task force looking into the causes of the worst blackout in U.S. history said the same problems responsible for last August's outage persist today. It issued an urgent appeal to Congress to adopt stiffer rules intended to make the national grid that supplies power more dependable.

Yet lawmakers have bottled up those needed reforms because they are more focused on winning extravagant favors for powerful business interests.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-04-21-our-view_x.htm

Wikipedia has an excellent entry for the Act with a group of links to criticisms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005

This congress should make America feel better and pledge to do nothing. Don't reform anything, don't pass any legislation, have no conference committees (for goodness' sake, PLEASE don't have any of those) and initiate no new actions whatsoever. You've messed things up enough.

On this site we know there are few accomplishments for which this GOP-led congress make take credit. They will try, though. We must remind them that just about every time, their supposed accomplishments only made things worse. For example, the transmission lines about which we all were concerned are still owned and maintained by individual companies, any one of which might neglect maintenance to the detriment of us all. Instead of fixing things, just as in this case, every policy challenge is taken by the GOP as an opportunity to enrich another selected business. We can't forget.

On another subject that shouldn't be forgotten, every post from this point forward should have a mention of the deceptions and betrayals of Sen. Pat Roberts with respect to his 'Insulting America's Intelligence' committee's Phase II prestidigitation. In my discussions, he's the poster boy for much of what has happened to this country: we have no men of integrity in leadership positions.

A bad system, run by good people, can work well. A good one, run by bad, will eventually fail.

[Demeter]

1. Not Only Revealed But Also Reversed!

Every act of Congress, every Senate approval, should be nullified since 2001.

Declare the coup over, and fix every injury and wrong.

[sandnsea]

2. A disaster in every way

I find it ironical that Republicans are scrambling to implement energy policies when they just passed their "Landmark" Energy Bill a year ago. And think they're going to throw us a hundred bucks so we won't notice their ineptness.

[harlinchi]

3. Some others don't want these guys to do anything, either!

On CNN's quick vote, the question was:

Should Congress give President Bush the authority to set fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars?
Yes-----36%----4128 votes
No------64%----7257 votes
Total: 11385 votes

It would appear that folks don't trust the GOP to to anything but harm to America!