The American people are looking for meaningful energy solutions and changes in our laws to help ease the economic burden of high energy prices. Yet House Democratic leaders are still planning to put a sham “energy” bill on the floor this week, one they are casting as a drilling bill. It isn’t. Don’t take our word for it.
 
One leading Energy Democrat, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), has come out strong against the House Democratic proposal, going so far as to urge her House Democrat colleagues to vote against it.
 

"Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., on Friday urged House members to oppose a House Democratic leadership bill because it does not include revenue-sharing provisions for states that accept drilling off their coasts." (New Orleans Times Picayune, 9/13/08)

 
By not including revenue sharing, the Democrat bill is a cynical political bait-and-switch – Democrats profess to now favor off-shore drilling but without allowing states to share in the revenues, Democrat leaders are ensuring deep water exploration will never happen.
 
So, what are the prospects of the House Democrat bill seeing the light of day in the Senate, let alone becoming law? Zero. Again, Senator Landrieu:
 

"'It’s dead on arrival in the Senate,’ Sen. Mary Landrieu said Friday. ‘The Senate will never pass a bill without revenue sharing, in my view." (CongressDaily, 9/15/08)

 
That’s not all. The Democrat bill leaves 88 percent of America’s off-shore energy resources under permanent lock-and-key, according to the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service. Moreover, it ignores the 10.4 billion barrels of oil in the 1002 area of the Arctic coastal plain as well as the 2 trillion barrels of oil shale reserves in the American west.

And while our economy continues to suffer slings and arrows, threatening American jobs and our standard of living, Democrats plan $85 billion in energy tax hikes to fund investment in renewable energies while Republican proposals protect taxpayers and bridge the gap to the next generation of energy by using revenues from the exploration of American energy.