LOS ANGELES?President Bush traveled across the country to deliver news Governor Gray Davis doesn’t want to hear: Bush won’t force down soaring electricity prices that have cost California nearly $8 billion since January.
The Republican president and the embattled Democratic governor met Tuesday for a 20 minute session on California’s energy crisis, but there was no indication they would break their stalemate.
Bush opposes caps on wholesale electricity that utilities buy, arguing they do nothing to address supply-and-demand issues at the heart of the crisis. Davis contends federal energy regulators are ignoring their mandate to ensure ?just and fair? electricity prices.
At the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, Bush announced Tuesday the expansion of a program that provides federal money to help low-income residents pay for power costs.