Congress: they're back, but do they have the energy?

It is unclear, as always with pols, to know what they will do, if anything. But Congress is back in session. Marketwatch, which is watched closely by lobbyists and folks with lots of money, signals K Street to get ready to lobby. It lists an energy bill as one of the goals in coming weeks. It also points up the big gap between bills already passed by the Senate and the House.

Meanwhile, The Hill spends hundreds of words going on about what Congress will do, or at least talk about. One word is distinctly missing from their catalog of Congressional priorities: energy. So don't be betting your green tech start-up on some impending government subsidy. And even in Congress does something, there's not any assurance the White House will sing anything this Congress passes, ever again.

Washington insdiers have got this mortgage loan mess to talk about. And then there's the big blow-up that is coming over the alternate realities in what used to be Iraq and is now a confused mesh of tribal enclaves and nasty business. And the college loan law runs out just in time for our Congressfolk to wax eloquent on how the money guys have bilked the students.

We know Sen. Reid is angry over coal. We know Rep. Dingell wants to protect his hometown Detroit automakers. And that means Speaker Pelosi is tip-toeing around the issue of stricter auto mileage standards. Here's where we stood when the House passed it's energy bill just before their August vacation. (How can these folks keep bashing France? They have almost an identical vacation schedule?)

I'm betting that if crude oil doesn't get to $80 a barrel and stay there, Congress will not get out of Mesopotamia and various loan snarls long enough to even think about an energy bill.