GOP criticizes its own $100 gas rebate plan

WASHINGTON – Republicans denounced their own gas price rebate plan on Tuesday, acknowledging that sending a $100 check to American taxpayers would do little to ease the pain of high prices or address their cause.

The quick backtrack – the Senate plan was announced with great fanfare just five days ago – reflected the deep discord among GOP lawmakers as they confront the political perils of $3-a-gallon gasoline.

The rhetoric was unusually sharp for an intramural fight. At his weekly meeting with reporters, House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, called the rebate idea “insulting” to taxpayers.

“The really insulting part of this whole proposal is the fact that somebody is offering $100 to every American family over this. This is not going to solve the problem,” he said. “I don’t like the proposal. And over the weekend I heard back from my constituents. They thought it was stupid.”

The idea also did not impress Edward P. Lazear, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, who on Tuesday told an audience at the Hudson Institute, a Washington public policy center, that the rebate proposal was problematic.

“One of the things we worry about when we cut the tax on gasoline is that it basically stimulates additional use,” Lazear said. “Over a longer period of time, it would be a significant problem … because what it would do is it would encourage us to use more oil, not less, and that is the way we got to the situation right now.”

Fearing a voter backlash, Republican leaders have announced a number of actions they hope will gain them a little time – and perhaps a little ground – with constituents.

Boehner said the House would vote today on two hastily assembled bills – one to make gas price-gouging a federal crime, and the other to streamline federal approval for building new oil refineries.

Democrats noted that they had introduced similar anti-gouging legislation last year, and that the Republican leadership made no effort to hold hearings on the subject, much less schedule a vote.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and nearly a year after Democrats introduced price gouging legislation, we welcome Republicans finally joining our efforts to bring down gas prices,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.