HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

One Year After the Offshore Drilling Ban was Lifted, Democrats Continue to Oppose More American Energy, New Jobs

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Rep. Don Young (R-AK), and Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) ask “Where is the Energy? Where are the Jobs?”

Exactly one year ago today, President Bush issued an executive order lifting the ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and opened the door for new energy production and the creation of millions of new energy jobs right here in America.  But one year later, Democrats have continued to block expanded energy production at home and have been steadfast in their opposition to the common-sense “all of the above” energy strategy that House Republicans have been advocating since last summer.

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Republican Doc Hastings (R-WA) held a press briefing today with other House Republicans where he highlighted the Democrats’ obstructionist tactics that have effectively kept the OCS ban in place:

Unfortunately, a year later, a defacto ban remains in place only because the Obama Administration has stood in the way.  Even in the middle of a serious recession with 9.5 percent unemployment, the Administration refuses to clear the way for new offshore drilling jobs.  And the American people are asking ‘where is the energy - and where are the jobs?’ 

And in an op-ed published on Townhall.com, Ranking Member Hastings noted that:

Although the President regularly expresses verbal support for a comprehensive energy plan, his Administration has demonstrated that no matter how many Americans are out of work, it will continue to take steps to proactively discourage certain types of economic development - including the creation of natural gas jobs, oil drilling jobs and nuclear jobs.

The Administration’s decision has prevented Americans from enjoying 1.2 million new, well-paying jobs annually across the country and $70 billion in additional wages each year (source: American Energy Alliance). And it also prevents the federal government from receiving over $2.2 trillion in total tax receipts - revenue that would go a long way towards addressing the historic $1.8 trillion deficit that reportedly keeps the President awake at night.

Democrats talk about creating jobs - but Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax will cost 2.5 million American jobs each year and will punish every American who dares to flip on a light switch or drives a car.  Democrats are also floating a half-a-trillion dollar tax hike on small businesses as part of their trillion-dollar government-run health care proposal, another sure job-killer.

House Republicans have a better solution that will create millions of new jobs without raising taxes on a single American: the American Energy Act.  The House Republicans’ “all of the above” energy strategy has four main goals: 1) Increase production of American-made energy in an environmentally-sound manner; 2) Promote new, clean and renewable sources of energy such as nuclear, clean-coal-technology, wind and solar energy; 3) Encourage greater efficiency and conservation by extending tax incentives for energy efficiency and reward development of greater conservation techniques and new energy sources; and, 4) Cut red-tape and reduce frivolous litigation.

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Oil Price Volatility Makes the Case for GOP’s All of the Above Energy Strategy

Today’s New York Times ran a front page story, “Volatile Swings in Price of Oil Stir Fears on Recovery,” which noted that “oil has risen 55 percent since the beginning of the year, to $70 a barrel, pushing gas prices up again to $2.60 a gallon.”  The Times story also stated that:

The instability of oil and gas prices is puzzling government officials and policy analysts, who fear it could jeopardize a global recovery.  It is also hobbling businesses and consumers, who are already facing the effects of a stinging recession, as they try in vain to guess where prices will be a year from now - or even next month.

Speaker Pelosi and her allies in Congress apparently believe that the answer to rising gas prices is to impose a new national energy tax that would punish Americans who dare to flip on a light switch or drive a car.  The Democrats’ energy tax would not only restrict the use of environmentally-safe offshore drilling, but would “permanently close some domestic refineries, which could permanently raise the price of gasoline,” as the New Hampshire Union-Leader noted in an editorial published today.

During the debate over Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax in the House, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) asked: “Do we need to have a national energy tax on every person in America who would drive a car, who would flip on a light switch or who would buy an American-made product?”  Leader Boehner continued: “if our goals are to clean up the air, to build an alternative energy business in the United States, a thriving one, and to create jobs, there’s a better way to do this, and it’s the all of the above strategy that we’ve been talking about in this Chamber for nearly a year.”

The House Republicans’ all of the above energy strategy includes four main goals:

• Increase production of American-made energy in an environmentally-sound manner.
• Promote new, clean and renewable sources of energy such as nuclear, clean-coal-technology, wind and solar energy.
• Encourage greater efficiency and conservation by extending tax incentives for energy efficiency and rewarding development of greater conservation techniques and new energy sources.
• Cut red-tape and reduce frivolous litigation.

The House Republicans’ all of the above strategy would put America on the path towards real energy independence, create good paying jobs at home instead of shipping them overseas, and would leave our children and grandchildren with a cleaner environment.  The American people don’t want a national energy tax - they want energy independence.  The House Republican plan is the comprehensive energy solution that this country desperately needs.

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Democrats Continue to Push Half-Measures on Energy; Republicans Offer Better Solutions

Today the Wall Street Journal reported that the Administration will disperse “$18.5 billion in federal financing to build the next generation of nuclear reactors” - a welcome step that will advance the next generation of safe, clean, carbon-neutral nuclear power.  The proposal would “add about seven new reactors to the U.S.’s existing fleet of 104.” 

While it’s encouraging that Democrats may finally be backing away from their longstanding hostility to nuclear power, more can and should be done.  House Republicans have proposed the American Energy Act, which envisions 100 new nuclear plants by 2030 and “authorizes an accelerated regulatory process for new reactor applicants, which meet certain conditions, in order to cut the time needed to permit new plants by roughly 50 percent.” Moreover, the American Energy Act would create thousands of good paying American jobs at time when the economy has shed nearly 2 million jobs this year alone.

The following chart from today’s Wall Street Journal illustrates how the United States stacks up compared to other developed nations in terms of nuclear power:

Democrats in the Senate are also feeling the heat from Republicans’ better energy solutions.  Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15- 8 for an energy measure that would, among other things, open more of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.

Bloomberg News noted that:

A Democratic amendment, sponsored by Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, would open drilling 45 miles (72 kilometers) off the coast of Florida.  It alters 2006 legislation that put in place a moratorium preventing drilling in a buffer zone that varied from 100 miles to 235 miles off the coast until 2021.

Senator Dorgan’s amendment is a good first step, but more can and should be done.  House Republicans’ American Energy Act increases the supply of American-made energy by lifting restrictions on environmentally-safe exploration in ANWR, the Outer Continental Shelf, and oil shale in the Mountain West. 

J.P Morgan says in a research note that: “We can argue whether it is $75 or $100 a barrel that will start to impact economic growth, but it will happen.”  House Republicans don’t believe that the American people should accept $100 oil as the norm - and they’re proposing real solutions that will keep the price of gas down at the pump, reduce American dependence on foreign oil, expand clean, carbon neutral energy sources - such as nuclear power and clean coal technology- at home, and leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner and healthier environment to live in.

At the end of the day, the House Republicans’ American Energy Act is about strengthening the Middle Class and safeguarding America’s energy future for future generations.

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House Republicans Introduce the American Energy Act

Today, House Republicans introduced the American Energy Act, legislation designed to clean up the environment, lower energy costs, and create more American jobs.  It was developed by the American Energy Solutions Group, chaired by House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) and has four main objectives:

• Increase production of American-made energy in an environmentally-sound manner.
• Promote new, clean and renewable sources of energy such as nuclear, clean-coal-technology, wind and solar energy.
• Encourage greater efficiency and conservation by extending tax incentives for energy efficiency and rewarding development of greater conservation techniques and new energy sources.
• Cut red-tape and reduce frivolous litigation.

The American Energy Act would directly address a growing concern for American families: rising gas prices.  The New York Times reported on Monday that: “Gas prices have risen 41 days in a row, to a national average of almost $2.62 a gallon. That is a sharp increase from the low of $1.62 a gallon that prevailed at the end of last year.”  In fact, the Times notes that: “the price of gasoline is actually lagging behind the increase in the price of oil.”  Today, the price of crude oil hit nearly $72 barrel, and is likely to only increase in the coming months with the traditional spike in summer travel.

The following chart from the Wall Street Journal shows just how rapidly the price of oil has increased in the last three months:

While Democrats in Washington propose a new national energy tax that would punish Americans for flipping on a light switch or driving a car, the House Republicans’ American Energy Act is an “all of the above” energy solution that increases domestic supply of energy by lifting restrictions on ANWR, the Outer Continental Shelf, and oil shale in the Mountain West; creates a Renewable and Alternative Energy Trust Fund; and establishes a national goal to bring 100 new nuclear reactors online over the next 20 years to strengthen America’s commitment to clean, reliable energy.

In short, it’s a job creator that helps to achieve true energy independence without raising taxes or burdening American families with ever higher gas and electric bills.  To read more about House Republicans’ American Energy Act, go to GOP.gov/energy.

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Boehner to Dem Leaders: Welcome Back … Now Give the American People their Energy Vote

House Republicans today welcomed their well-rested Democratic colleagues back to work after their five week break.  Gathering on the steps of the Capitol, Leader Boehner and House Republicans continued to demand, as they did through the month of August, that Speaker Pelosi schedule a vote on the American Energy Act (H.R. 6566), an “all of the above” plan to lower gas prices by increasing American energy production, encouraging conservation, and promoting development of alternative fuels.

Photos from the event can be seen below or on Leader Boehner’s Flickr photostream. More information on the event here.

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WSJ to Pelosi: “A Carbon Eduction” [12:10]

Under the title “A Carbon Education,” a Wall Street Journal editorial this morning discusses Speaker Pelosi’s claim on NBC’s Meet the Press last weekend that natural gas is not a fossil fuel:

“Ms. Pelosi appeared Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ where Tom Brokaw gently pointed out that the various Democratic alternative energy ambitions are ‘not going to happen overnight.’ Replied Ms. Pelosi: ‘You can have a transition with natural gas. That, that is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels.’ Later, she again said that ‘I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels,’ and that wind, solar, biofuels and ‘a focus on natural gas, these are the real alternatives.’”

 “Apparently Ms. Pelosi’s new script is still being reworked, but it’s a telling mistake. Not only is natural gas every bit as much a ‘fossil fuel’ as oil or coal. More to the point, these concentrated organic compounds found beneath the earth’s surface must be extracted by . . . drilling.  And sometimes even drilling offshore, on the Outer Continental Shelf.  But more drilling is what Ms. Pelosi had refused to allow just a few days ago.”

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“The Democrats’ Oil-Drilling Flimflam: Betting the Public Is Too Dumb to Catch On”

FamilySecurityMatters.org has a noteworthy piece entitled “The Democrats’ Oil-Drilling Flimflam: Betting the Public Is Too Dumb to Catch On,” from Joel Himelfarb today.  Excerpts are below:

 “The mantra from Barack Obama and congressional Democrat leaders is that they represent ‘change’ - and when it comes to gas prices, they certainly have a point. The cost to heat and air-condition American homes is certainly ‘changing’ in very negative ways for the American consumer, as is the cost of getting to work or taking a trip with the family.” …

“House and Senate Republicans appear to have found their voice on the energy issue: contrasting their efforts to support offshore oil drilling and exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) with the Democrat leadership’s efforts to block it at every turn. House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell have spent the past two months doing everything possible to show the link between the Democrat leadership’s intransigent opposition to drilling and the crushing burden of higher energy prices the American people. While discussing weighty matters like primates, soccer teams and the like, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and their allies have dedicated themselves to preventing Congress from voting on efforts to expand energy supplies.”

For the full piece, please click here.

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House Republican Uprising Live Blog [1:11]

H.R. 6566- The American Energy Act: Text | Summary

To read an open letter from House Republicans to Speaker Pelosi please click here.
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL):

“You know, can you imagine my surprise getting these messages on my Blackberry while I’m sitting in my living room with my family. They say my colleagues are making a stand in the House chamber. My wife and I read them, and thought ‘I need to get there’. So we packed up the car, and drove in around 3AM. Don’t you sense something here, a tipping point? Can’t you imagine if the Speaker, the Senate Majority Leader, and the President got together and said “We are going to get this done.” Can you imagine a new era for American jobs? People can look back at today and say, ‘this is the day we got it together.’ This is the great issue of our day, and if we convince the Speaker not to run around saying ‘I’m not listening, I’m not listening!’ then we can convene a debate and make this happen!”

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX):

“Here’s a letter from the Gardner family in Texas. They can’t afford to both go on vacation and send their son to Boy Scout camp. They can’t afford it. If the Gardners can’t, then neither should Pelosi and the Congress!”

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN):

“What did the Democrats do while the Pelosi Premium went up? They declared National Passport Month, but wouldn’t have a vote on energy. In May we voted on ‘National Train Day’ but not energy! [Holds a gas can] This is a gas can. An empty gas can, as empty as the Democratic Party’s ideas on energy, on filling this can! They don’t know how to fill it. Their only idea is $5 gas. [Holds up a new helical light bulb] The Democrat energy plan is to outlaw incandescent light bulbs, but not vote on a comprehensive energy policy!”

Tep. Tim Walberg (R-MI):

“Madame Speaker, let my people vote!”

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House Republican Uprising Live Blog [12:47]

For those of you using Facebook, show your support by joining the “Let’s Rock the House! I Support the Guerrilla Congress” group.

You can also follow the Twitter #dontgo hash tag at http://dontgo.us/

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA):

“Common sense is not very common in Washington, D.C… Why aren’t we using all the resources that we Americans can bring to the table?”

“We need to use our American ingenuity to solve these problems…We will get it done if there’s a vote on this floor.”

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House Republican Uprising Live Blog [12:27]

More from Rep. Mike Pence:

” We believe that Congress should reconvene because Americans will not take a vacation due to gasoline prices….Congress should not be out.”

“The American people want less talk and more action. They want Congress in session now.”

“..if we open the continental shelf and find more eco-friendly ways, then gas prices WILL go down.” *Standing Ovation*

“We want Speaker Pelosi to heed what the American public wishes, which is for Congress to reconvene.”

“Energy independence is the calling of our time!”

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH):

“Let me tell you about the Wright brothers from Dayton, Orville and Wilbur. They went to North Carolina at Kitty Hawk and demonstrated their spirit of inventiveness with their airplane. Americans thrive on inventiveness, and we need to harness that spirit as develop alternative forms of energy. We can’t harden our hearts to any idea. We need to start doing this now!”

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

“We produce more renewable energy in our district than in any of the 434 other districts. In our land, we know about energy. Not Pe-la-la-losi-land! Here, we know what we’re talking about.”

[Puts up a huge poster of Pelosi] : “This is her dilemma: ‘I am trying to save the planet, I am trying to save the planet!’ She wants the planet restored to some imagined state of being. She says she wants to save the planet but doesn’t show concern for the homo sapiens that live on it! She doesn’t want our standard of living to go up, she doesn’t want more energy. We might as well backtrack and start at the Garden of Eden.”

Republican Leader Boehner just released the following Leader Alert: Pelosi vs. America: While Speaker Continues Blocking a Vote on Lower Gas Prices, Historic House Floor Revolt Goes On…

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