Progress Illinois

As the cost of a gallon of gas approaches $4.00, Rep. Bill Foster has come out in support of a measure to cut costs at the pump over the summer.

Foster announced on Friday that he is co-sponsoring House Resolution 5473, which would halt the delivery of oil to the U.S strategic oil reserve for the rest of the year. According to the Democratic Caucus, the Bush administration is "currently buying 70,000 barrels of oil per day at current prices" to put into reserve. If that oil was allowed into the market, it would increase supply and lower the cost of a gallon of gas by as much as 25 cents, said Foster. The Beacon News has more details:

Supplying the reserves could resume sooner if oil drops below $50 per barrel, he said. But that price hit another all-time high Friday, topping $116 a barrel.

Foster is among at least 25 cosponsors on the legislation, which is sitting in a House subcommittee. He called it a "short-term fix," pointing to more efficient vehicles as the ultimate goal.

Illinois Reps. Rahm Emanuel and Jan Schakowsky are also among the bill's co-sponsors.

Proponents say that greater availability of oil would not only drive down the cost of gasoline, but also take a bite out of exploding food costs that are linked to oil prices. The U.S. Strategic Reserve is currently filled to 96 percent capacity. If the bill passed, it would not be the fist time the government stopped contributing to the reserve. In 2006, the Bush administration suspended deposits to drive down the cost of fuel. Keep in mind that back then the price of oil was about $75-per-barrel.

You can hear Rep. Bill Foster delivering the Democrats' Saturday radio address here.

In a Democratic radio address that aired nationally this morning, Rep. Bill Foster touched on a variety of issues. Most notably, he took a cue from Barack Obama and made an economic argument against continuing the Iraq war:

Democrats have a plan to extend essential tax credits that will support the production and use of renewable energy, like ethanol. Unfortunately, President Bush opposes this plan and is instead working to protect taxpayer subsidies for big oil companies. These companies are making record profits — and they don't need handouts from the taxpayer.

Passing this legislation is critical, but achieving energy independence will be virtually impossible if the war in Iraq continues with no end in sight. We have now spent more on the war in Iraq than has been invested on energy research in the history of our country.

Moving our economy forward and making our nation energy independent will be difficult if we continue a war with no idea how to pay for it and no idea how to end it.

As Steve Benen noted after Obama's recent speech on the economy, linking the expense of the war to the country's economic woes is "both good policy and good politics — it helps make these costs personal." I'd have to agree.

You can read Foster's entire address here.

After taping his upcoming response to President Bush's Saturday radio address at WBBM's studios in Chicago this morning, Bill Foster took questions from the media, including one from Public Affair's Jeff Berkowitz about proposed reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Specifically, Berkowitz asked him about his recent vote against a bill originating in the Senate that offered immunity to those telecom companies who cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program. In response, Foster explained how he instead voted for the House compromise bill, which proposed that the phone companies be able to defend their actions in a secret court, rather than receive blanket immunity:

FOSTER: [Y]ou know, this was an important vote. And, I do not believe in blanket immunity for telecom companies or anyone else that may or may not have violated basic privacy understandings. I believe there is a huge difference between a scenario in which data was turned over in the immediate aftermath of September 11, with a clear understanding that people in the Administration thought that this was truly legal and data that may have been turned over under other circumstances.

And, I think the compromise that came out of the House Bill, which essentially established a secret court that allowed the telecoms to defend themselves, using the letters that they may or may not have received from the Administration, provides a very good intermediate compromise for the purposes of determining the civil immunity or non-immunity of these telecoms. So, I am a bigger fan of the compromise that came out of the House than the compromise that came out of the Senate and I voted that way.

(More after the jump ...)

After winning back Democratic control of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat in the 14th District, Rep. Bill Foster is clearly a popular guy in Democratic circles these days. Case in point: the AP is reporting that he was tapped by the party leaders to deliver the Democrats' response to President Bush's Saturday radio address. His five-minute address, which he taped this morning, reportedly focuses on the economy. Come tomorrow, you'll be able to find the audio clip here.

UPDATE: An excerpt from Foster's address, courtesy of Chicago Public Radio:

"In the coming weeks, I would hope the president would take the same approach to health care that he did to economic stimulus; to put away his veto pen, sit down and work with us to work out our differences. Our children need progress, not vetoes and political posturing."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has released its list of targeted congressional races for 2008 and there are six in Illinois:

- IL-6: Incumbent Peter Roskam is one of the DCCC's "Targeted Republicans"

- IL-8: Incumbent Melissa Bean is one of the DCCC's "Frontline Democrats"

- IL-10: Incumbent Mark Kirk is a "Targeted Republican." Meanwhile, challenger Dan Seals is part of the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program.

- IL-11: Democratic candidate and State Sen. Debbie Halvorson is also on the "Red to Blue" list.

- IL-14: Bill Foster, who is filling out the rest of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's term after winning a March 8 special election, is one of the DCCC's "Frontline Democrats"

- IL-18: The DCCC describes this as a "competitive open seat" (current Rep. Ray Lahood is retiring). The Democratic candidate is Colleen Callahan.

While the hard-fought campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is attracting major media coverage, the Democrats' prospects for big gains in the U.S. Congress appear to be quietly improving. The AP's Charles Babington reports that, with the recent announcement that Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) won't be running for reelection, the number of current House Republicans calling it quits in November has reached 26. That's 26 potential Democratic pick-ups. Babington further reports that some in the party are considering targeting "as many as 50 House seats now held by Republicans."

And things are looking good on the financial end:

Campaign money, usually a Republican strong suit, is flowing to the Democrats this season. In the most recent reports, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had $34 million on hand, compared with $4 million for its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Of course, back in January, the NRCC had a couple more million in their coffers. They subsuquently burned it in an unsuccessful effort to help out Jim Oberweis's special election campaign against now-Rep. Bill Foster in Illinois' 14th District.

The action is not all in the House, however. Babington identifies strong Democratic efforts to take over Republican Senate seats in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Alaska, Oregon, and Maine.

More after the jump ...