This is really pitiful. The Senate will most likely vote on Senator Menendez’s legislation today to punish the American people, drive up the cost of gasoline, and do so in the name of sticking it to oil companies.

Tomorrow, Senator McConnell is going to offer a Republican alternative that doesn’t suck as bad, but will still punish consumers, oil drillers, and the free market. The legislation is S. 953 Offshore Production and Safety Act of 2011. You can watch Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, who happens to know something about energy production, explain just how terrible the Republican legislation is by following this link.

This is another example of the Senate GOP deciding its legislative strategy is to be “Democrat-lite” to win the hearts and minds of the New York Times editorial page.

Under Mitch McConnell’s proposal, the government would add yet another hurdle to obtain a drilling permit beyond the burdensome regulatory hurdles already put in place by the Obama Administration. In fact, this particularly onerous part of the legislation comes from Diane Feinstein and Scott Brown.

The GOP plan also adds new burdens on spill containment going beyond the already burdensome Obama regulations. Oh, and even better, it’d let the Obama Administration’s regulators define all the GOP’s requirements for the GOP.

Unfortunately, while the GOP’s legislation would expand the regulatory burdens on drilling, it would not much allow for expanded access to drilling. The Gulf of Mexico? Barely. Pacific Coast? Hardly? The Atlantic Coast? Not Exactly. Inland shale reserves? Hahaha. So much for increasing domestic production.

In other words, while Senator Menendez’s plan is bad, the GOP’s version will be bad too — only slightly less bad.

I’d suggest you call your Senator and tell him or her to oppose both the Menendez and the McConnell Energy Plans. You can use our action center to make the call.