May 28, 2009 | House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) | Permalink

With Memorial Day come and gone, the summer driving season is officially underway, and Americans are preparing to grapple with higher gas prices and home energy costs in the months to come.  It’s a familiar tale for families and small businesses, who know all too well the pain of soaring energy prices.  Unfortunately for them, Democrats in charge of Washington are poised to make matters even worse by establishing a national energy tax to be paid by anyone who drives a car, buys anything made in America, or has the audacity to flip on a light switch. 

Masked as a legislative solution to clean up the environment, the Democrats’ “cap and trade” national energy tax could cost families up to $3,100 more per year, and Republicans across the country are sounding the alarm on the plan.  House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) leads the Republicans’ American Energy Solutions Group and is spearheading the effort, which includes three town hall meetings this week in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and today in California.  WIBC Radio in Indianapolis, which hosted a town hall yesterday, is reporting that in addition to raising costs on families and small businesses, the national energy tax is also a job-killer:

Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), who attended the American Energy Solutions Group town hall in Pittsburgh earlier this week, echoed that point, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the Democrats’ national energy tax is a “job crushing bill,” while calling for more environmentally-safe energy production right here at home to bring down prices and create more jobs.

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), the Ranking Republican on the Natural Resources Committee, continued the drumbeat on the national energy tax, warning a Rotary Club in his congressional district that the plan “would cripple our economy without taking into account the exploding pollution levels of rapidly expanding countries like China and India.”  Ironically, because those nations have not adopted a national energy tax, that’s where many American jobs will flee.

And to cap off the week, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) will deliver the GOP’s weekly national address on Saturday – an address in which he will detail the consequences of the Democrats’ national energy tax and discuss better solutions for bringing down energy costs and cleaning up the environment.  Each and every day, Gov. Daniels’ home state of Indiana is proving that those solutions work and are an example for the rest of the nation.

Alternatives to the national energy tax are at the heart of the work Rep. Pence’s American Energy Solutions Group is doing around the nation and in the halls of Congress.  Cornerstones of the House Republicans’ strategy are:

• Increasing environmentally-safe energy production on remote lands and far off our shores;
• Promoting the use of alternative fuels that will reduce carbon emissions, such as nuclear, clean-coal, and renewable energy technologies; and
• Encouraging conservation to preserve and protect our natural resources.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REPUBLICAN LEADER PRESS OFFICE
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH)
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