And here is some video on this topic...Congress’ No-Energy Bill Could Cost Jobs, Will Raise Energy Prices
It should come as no surprise that Congress has, once again, made your life more difficult. The U.S. House recently passed an energy bill that does nothing to lower energy costs – you don’t get a break on your fuel costs; there’s no relief for your high home-heating bills.
The American people want their elected leaders in Washington to address the rising costs of living and the skyrocketing energy costs. But this bill instead will create an energy shortage and kill American jobs, creating a recipe for economic disaster. According to an independent study by CRA International, a business consulting group, the No-Energy Bill would “restrict the supply of energy available to the U.S. economy” and increase costs for a wide array of consumer goods and services. And energy policy analysts have noted that schemes in the bill will actually increase gas prices.
The big question that must be asked is: Who is looking out for consumers? Unfortunately, the answer from Congress is: Not us.
I voted against this bill, and I will continue to vote against bad legislation that will hurt working families. This bill contains zero reforms to help families deal with rising home-heating costs. It doesn’t take a single step toward more production of domestic energy sources. And, as the CRA study noted, it could result in the net loss of 4.9 million American jobs by 2030, a $1,700 decrease in the average American household’s annual purchasing power and a net loss of $1 trillion in U.S. economic output.
By now, you’re wondering what is contained within the more than 1,000 pages of the bill that was written secretly by just a few powerful Congressional representatives and bypassed U.S. House process by not being vetted through the Energy and Commerce Committee.
There is $2 billion in the bill to develop a rail line from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to lower Manhattan. The bill creates “forestry conservation tax credit bonds” that apparently will benefit just one company in the entire country due to the new program’s requirements that land must include at least 40,000 acres and have a “native fish habitat conservation plan approved by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.” The only such “forest” with fish is owned by a timber company in Montana.
As if that’s not bad enough, a “green pork” $3 billion slush fund in the bill could also put your tax dollars toward:
Hybrid snowmobiles in Aspen, Colorado;
A fake rainforest in Iowa;
Replacing police cars in Beverly Hills with Lexus Hybrids;
And copies of Al Gore’s global warming move to give to school children.
If we are serious about solving the energy crisis in America , we must deal with conservation, with alternative fuel sources and with increased domestic production of energy. We must be committed to developing long-term alternatives to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. And we must provide incentives for consumers and companies to embrace alternative sources of energy.
Two years ago, the Republican-led Congress passed the Energy Policy Act – the first comprehensive national energy strategy in more than a decade – that called for oil exploration on a very small parcel of the 19 million acres in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge. The benefits of expanding our energy portfolio are not just in reducing prices but increasing opportunities here at home for new family-wage jobs and growing American industries. Ohio is among the largest coal-producing states in the country and we have devoted an enormous amount of resources for research and development. While retaining our position as a national leader on coal, we should seek to become a leader in other energy sectors as well.
Let’s get serious about energy independence. Let’s get serious about what we need to do as a nation to solve this problem for our children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, legislation that kills American jobs and threatens our economy is not the right direction for us to take. I look forward to developing a real energy strategy for our nation and for our working families.
Special note for OSU Buckeye fans: Boehner does us proud in the introduction!
Text of the above speech:
“I appreciate my colleague for yielding and Ohio State will be in the national championship on January 7. And we look forward to dealing with our colleagues from Louisiana .My favorite line? So glad you asked:
“Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, there’s been a lot said on the floor today about the national energy crisis that we face. We know that it jeopardizes our national security. We know that it jeopardizes our own economy and American jobs here at home. And this is an issue that the American people are very concerned about. We’ve got rising gasoline prices; we’ve got home heating oil prices and gas prices for this winter that are really going to hurt the American families’ budget. So we have a crisis that deserves our, our response and our collective effort.
“But what we have here today is a bill that was written in secret. Written by a handful of people on the Majority side in each chamber that we didn’t see until last night. Nobody knows what’s in this bill. Nobody’s had time to read it. One thing that isn’t in here that I think was something of – certainly will be useful is the CAFÉ agreement that Mr. Dingell and others reached, that will give us more efficient cars in the future and do in a practical way to help domestic manufacturers and the consumers in America who are going to have to pay for this.
“But we know what’s not in it. There’s nothing in here that’s going to lower gasoline prices in America . There’s nothing in here that’s going – that can help American families deal with the heating costs they are going to have this winter. There’s nothing here in this bill that’s going to increase domestic production of energy. And at the end of the day, if we are very serious about solving the energy crisis in America , we’ve got to deal with conservation. We’ve got to deal with alternative sources of fuel. We have to deal with increased production here in the United States . And my goodness why won’t we talk about nuclear energy on the floor of the House of Representatives of the United States when we know that it’s the cleanest source of fuel for our future? But it’s not in here.
“Now, I did find some other things that were in this bill. Earmarks. Oh, yeah, we’ve got to have earmarks. We are going to move a piece of legislation, we have to take care of a few people. So I found $161 million in here for the Plum Creek Timber Company’s Montana landholdings for native fish habitat conservation. I didn’t know the fish lived in trees. We have a $2 billion earmark in here from our good friend from New York City to help New York develop a rail line from the J.F.K. Airport to lower Manhattan. That’s something I’m sure my constituents want to pay for.
“One of the better issues in here though is the $3 billion slush fund. $3 billion of our money that we are going to give to cities and counties around America for green projects except the definition is so wide that they could do almost anything. Some city could decide they are going to finance Al Gore’s speaking tour to promote his book, An Inconvenient Truth. Or maybe Beverly Hills will replace their police cars with Lexus hybrids. Certainly would count if you look at the bill. We could be buying some energy efficient hybrid snowmobiles for Aspen or Snowmass or any of those places. All that would be allowed under this provision. Or we could use some of this money to finish the rainforest we are building in Iowa. This is not what the American people want their money to go to.
“And although this is not an earmark, what I really liked in the bill was the $240 tax credit that we are going to provide every 15 months for people who regularly ride their bike to work for the purchase repair or storage of their bicycle. Now, amongst us, I know there’s one of my colleagues that would probably benefit from this. I hope he's going to recuse himself when we vote.
“This is not going to solve America’s energy problem. I think we ought to get serious as a country about energy independence and saving our future and the future for our kids. But while we are here dealing with this bill that doesn’t frankly do much and will not solve our problem, think about what we haven’t done. Christmas is right around the corner for some of you that haven’t realized it. The gentleman from Maryland yesterday, the Majority Leader, said we would be out by December 14. Now, first I wanted to say, ha, ha, ha, but then I began to realize we are close to Christmas so I thought ho, ho, ho might be more appropriate. Now there’s not a chance that’s going to happen.
“We haven’t dealt with the AMT problem. We are about to put 23 million Americans under the alternative minimum tax that have never been there before. We have not done anything to fund our troops or veterans that are about to run out of money. Men and women in the military in Afghanistan and Iraq are out there fighting to protect the American people. We have not dealt with that funding. We have not dealt with 11 of the 12 appropriation bills that should have been done by October, but we are going to get them done by Thanksgiving. And here it is December 6 – my wife's birthday, Ray LaHood’s birthday – December 6, and we still haven’t done 11 of the 12 appropriation bills. None of this is finished at a time when we ought to be getting serious about getting our work done.
“So I’m going to ask my colleagues. Let’s get serious about energy independence. Let’s get serious about what we need to do as a nation to solve the future for our kids and theirs. And until we get serious, I think we should vote no on this bill. I would implore our colleagues to also realize that our constituents are looking for us. Our families are going to be looking for us soon. And it’s time for us to wrap up our work but get our work finished because the American people expect it.”
That’s something I’m sure my constituents want to pay for.You can say that again, Congressman! (If you haven't watched the video, Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- was employing a rhetorical device called sarcasm; and doing so to great effect.)
All of this leads me to another video from Boehner...
This "No Energy" Bill is just one more weapon in the Democrat's War on American Jobs.
