In case you missed it, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and her liberal Washington party bosses are eagerly pushing around a letter today, demanding a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into alleged “price fixing” by energy producers.  As Politico reports today:

Senate Democrats are requesting an FTC investigation into “potential price fixing” of gasoline by petroleum refiners… Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is the lead on the letter. Other senators signing on include Reid, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the third- and fourth-ranking Senate Democrats. McCaskill — who is one of the biggest targets for Republicans in 2012 — has also been given a leading role by Senate Democratic leaders on legislation up for vote Tuesday that would raise taxes for the five biggest private integrated oil companies by $21 billion over 10 years and steer those dollars toward reducing the deficit. Democratic leaders know that bill will not get the needed 60 votes today during an initial procedural vote.

If this sounds like a familiar move from the liberal Democrat playbook, that’s because it is.  We’ve seen this exact political posturing before – from liberal former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)…

As noted by CongressNow in April 2008, Pelosi “sent a letter to FTC Chairman William Kovacic, asking him to… probe possible price fixing by oil companies. It was the latest salvo in a week when both parties clashed rhetorically over how to curb record gasoline prices.”

Notably, Pelosi’s grandstanding came on the heels of an FTC report issued in May 2006 – in the wake of Hurricane Katrina – which found that there was “no evidence that petroleum companies were acting to manipulate supply in order to raise gasoline prices.”

So, instead of offering real solutions to help families struggling with high prices at the pump, Claire McCaskill and her fellow Washington Democrats are simply trying to score cheap political points, parroting Nancy Pelosi’s stale narrative from three years ago.

As The Hill newspaper reported today, McCaskill and the “Democrats are hoping they can score some political points” off their constituents’ pain at the pump – rather than actually addressing the problem of soaring gas prices as her fellow Washington liberals claim that near-record-high gas prices are “not the issue,” and their proposed tax hikes were “never intended to talk about lowering prices.”  As a reminder, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that McCaskill’s proposed energy tax hikes would “make oil and natural gas more expensive for U.S. consumers and likely increase foreign dependence.”

In reporting on McCaskill’s parroting of Nancy Pelosi’s talking points while failing to help Missourians struggling with $4-a-gallon gas, please consider the following statement from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC):

“It’s a shame that Senator McCaskill cares more about parroting Nancy Pelosi’s rhetoric and scoring cheap political points than about actually doing something to help Missouri families who are struggling with $4-a-gallon gas.” – Chris Bond, NRSC Press Secretary