If Republicans finally pass their extravagant energy bill this weekend, we hope they take a moment to thank the one man who above all others will have made it possible: Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

The cornucopia of special interest energy payoffs slid through the House earlier this week but has hit a snag in the Senate. East and West Coast liberals complain it lacks conservation measures. A few Republicans are appalled by its billions of dollars in new subsidies. This unlikely alliance is close to the 41 votes it needs to defeat the bill with a filibuster.

Standing in their way is none other than that liberal giant, Mr. Daschle, who two days ago endorsed the bill. What has provoked this rare burst of bipartisanship? It happens that the South Dakotan is the co-author of an enormous new mandate in the bill requiring American drivers to more than double the amount of ethanol they buy. Facing a tough re-election race next year, the erstwhile prairie populist is determined to raise U.S. fuel prices (by $8.5 billion over each of the next five years) in order to feed the ethanol lobby. Keep in mind that much of this ethanol subsidy goes not to farmers but to giant agribusiness companies such as Archer-Daniels-Midland.

As early as July, the Senator was running ads back home promising that "Tom Daschle is close to passing new energy legislation that would triple ethanol production in South Dakota." And recently the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association (the ethanol lobby) made it clear that any Midwest politician who votes against the bill will get a thorough shucking. Republican energy conference chair Pete Domenici also twisted the knife this week when he mused publicly that if this energy bill dies it's impossible to know whether this ethanol windfall "ever comes back."

We'd love to see the energy bill die, but where are the nation's soak-the-rich, anti-big business liberals when you really need them?

Copyright 2003 Wall Street Journal

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