National Energy Tax vs. American Energy Act: A Dramatic Comparison
Democrats have held many a committee hearing marking up the Waxman-Markey National Energy Tax Bill. While they were doing that, House Republicans were putting an alternative plan together that actually addresses our energy needs. Their plan is called the American Energy Act. The AEA breaks down into these six titles:
Title I—American Energy
Title II—Conservation and Efficiency
Title III—New and Expanding Technologies
Title IV—Nuclear
Title V—Environmental Review & the EPA
Title VI—Legal Reform
In other words, the House GOP has, again, put an ‘all of the above’ energy plan together. It invests in the baseline energy we’ll need to power our economy. Title I deals with the Outer Continental Shelf, the Arctic Coastal Plain, Oil Shale and the Refinery Permit Process. Title II addresses Tax Incentives for Fuel Efficiency, Tapping America’s Ingenuity and Creativity and Home and Business Tax Incentives. Title III includes alternative fuels, tax provisions and creates the American Renewable and Alternative Energy Trust Fund.
Meanwhile, the National Energy Tax is about creating a massive tax increase in the name of saving the planet. Don’t pay attention to the fact that there isn’t proof that the planet needs saving. Don’t pay attention to the fact that many of the allowances weren’t based on scientific findings but were part of a political negotiation.
During last fall’s campaign, then-Candidate Obama said that he’d drive coal-fired power plants into bankruptcy with his National Energy Tax:
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.
Let’s also consider the fact that Rep. John Dingell, (D-MI), said that the National Energy Tax was “Cap and Trade is a tax a great big” tax increase:
REP. DINGELL: Nobody in this country realizes that Cap and Trade is a tax a great big one, too.”
Finally, let’s consider that this isn’t about the environment, that it’s about a tax increase. Here’s what Professor Bob Weisman, a professor of meteorology at St. Cloud State said about Cap And Trade:
Despite disagreeing with him “100 percent, politically,” Weisman said he agreed with Horner that the Obama administration’s cap-and-trade program likely won’t do anything to effect climate change. “Like the Kyoto treaty, it won’t bring down global warming,” Weisman said. “You’d need something more like a 40 percent cut in emissions (to do that).”
In the final summary, the House Republican’s American Energy Act is about supplying the nation with enough energy for a century or more while the Democrats’ plan does nothing about energy but it does raise taxes while doing nothing for the environment.
I’ll bet that most Americans wouldn’t have a difficult time making that decision.
Technorati Tags: Mike Pence, American Energy Act, Energy, Nuclear Power, Shale Oil, ANWR, OCS, Alternatives, Republicans, President Obama, Henry Waxman, Ed Markey, National Energy Tax, Democrats
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog