The conversation with Sen. Bill Stouffer during his Monday visit to the Cooper County Human Services Council took twists and turns before members began asking the tough questions about how the drastically increasing costs of fuel and related living expenses such as food will impact the poorest segment of our society.

Stouffer fumbled with a neighbor-helping-neighbor reply, saying social outreach is a better bandaid than government intervention, before admitting he didn’t have an answer.

It’s a tough question, one on almost everyone’s mind as they reach for their wallets at the gas station or the grocery store and begin to re-evaluate their budget.

One local employer said she has already lost two valuable employees because they have taken jobs closer to where they live, in effect giving themselves a pay raise by decreasing their fuel expenditures.

One of those present at Monday’s meeting said although she believes in the concept of the Faith Initiative, said there aren’t enough resources to address all those who have significant need.

Where does this leave us?

Both of our state senators issued statements on the energy issue yesterday. It’s obviously a complex issue, decades in the making, and the language being used in Congress is doing little to inspire faith in any immediate government-led solutions.
In her press release, Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, said she voted in favor of the Consumer First Energy Act of 2008, legislation she said would “enact key reforms to make fuel more affordable for Americans in the future.” The vote required 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster – it failed 51-43.

“Let’s get real about our energy future” was the heading of Republican Sen. Kit Bond’s press release. He called for the Senate to “put aside gimmicks” and find a comprehensive solution to address the nation’s oil supply and demand, “not the Democrats’ latest proposal, defeated on the Senate floor today, that would increase taxation, litigation and regulation on American energy production while doing nothing to ease American families’ pain at the pump.” He has co-sponsored the American Energy Production Act of 2008.

McCaskill agreed that those in rural Missouri are feeling the pain of fuel prices and with the reality check. “This is like the twilight zone,” she said in her speech on the Senate floor.

We couldn’t agree more.

Stop the dramatics, roll up your sleeves and do the hard work. We are fearing not just for the short-term, but the generational impact of our economic predicament.

As a blogger in our BDN guestbook said recently, “I am scared.” Me, too.