(CNN) – Indiana Rep. Mike Pence on Saturday touted the Republicans' omnibus, “all-of-the-above” energy plan, while warning that proposals from Democrats would lead to higher energy prices and massive job losses.
Pence, the chairman of the House GOP American Energy Solutions Group, and other House Republicans this week introduced the American Energy Act, a plan they say will reduce energy costs, create jobs and help clean up the environment.
The plan calls for expanded exploration of domestic sources for oil and natural gas, a commitment to nuclear energy, investments in renewable and alternative energy technology and incentives for the public to focus on conservation.
“The American Energy Act is the comprehensive energy solution this country desperately needs to achieve energy independence, create good jobs and help our environment,” Pence said in the weekly Republican address.
Republicans have criticized the Democrats' proposal to curb greenhouse emissions using the so-called “cap-and-trade” program, saying it amounts to an energy tax.
A bill drafted by Democrats sets a target for cutting greenhouse gases by 17 percent from their 2005 levels by 2020. An auction for the credits, which effectively starts in 2014, allows businesses that meet the new energy standard to sell their credits to those who are still working to become more energy efficient. The theory is that as businesses become more energy efficient and less polluting, the market in pollution credits will help bring down emissions.
According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, when the auction goes into full effect it could yield an average of about $100 billion a year. Democrats argue this will spur a new marketplace for clean energy technologies and generate new "green" jobs.
Most House Republicans contend that as utility companies work to meet the new standards, they will pass on the costs of the new mandates to consumers.
“This national energy tax amounts to an economic declaration of war on America's families, small businesses and family farms. The American people know we can do better,” Pence said.
Rep. Mike Pence gets "The Last Word" on CNN's "State of the Union with John King" this Sunday. Tune in at 9 a.m. ET.
From CNN Politics
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Mike Pence is an embarrassment to the state of Indiana. He's anti-science, or else, he's not honest enough to admit it the science if valid. How or why people elect such scientifically ignorant people is mind-boggling.
So CNN whwere are the details?? Why is it that the republicans can present a budget without numbers, and now an energy proposal with no details but the President on a RADIO address is maligned for no specific details but ir is fine for the Republicans to do the same thing?
For example, where are these nulear energy plants going to be built, where is the waste going to be stored, who is going to pay to build them and when will they be functional??
Lets just quit playing around,it time to nationalize big oil and gas and put all those profits to the peoples good use, not just the rich.
We do indeed need more nuclear plants. It's the best way to go.
OK – at least a few suggestions this time.
HOWEVER – NIMBY – there will be no nuclear waste created or stored anywhere until the government comes up with fail-proof safety. How about that?
Lemme guess, the Chimp-n-Chief will call the Republicans 'The Party of No' again.
Obama is doing everything he can to destroy the U.S. economy, and we need to stop him.
I am a registered Democrat and an Obama supporter, and I think the Republicans have some good ideas here regarding an alternative to the 'cap-and-trade' proposal. However, I think the GOP could get further with their good ideas and have more credibility to see things like this pass if they would stop bashing the Obama administration just for the heck of it at every turn.
Take a clue, GOP: America will listen. You don't have to change your conservative policies if you change your anti-liberal image.
Don't worry about the fact that this will drive energy prices through the roof in the midwest...This will create 10's of jobs for Pelosi and Waxman is the socialist state of Cali.
Good thing the government subsities (you know those pesky tax breaks and such that the dems rally against since they all go to "big buisiness) are about 20x higher for "green energy" a developing industry, than for nuclear energy which we already know works.
What I am trying to figure out is how to get fired from my job so I can line up for all the freebies that Barry is promising...any suggestions?
Exploration of domestic sources for oil and natural gas = drill in Alaska.
Everyone knows that will only benefit the companies involved in the drilling, because, after 10 years of effort (and huge expense), we'll only get about 6 months' worth of oil. From a cost-benefit-analysis point of view, that makes no sense.
Regarding nuclear energy, where do you propose we store the waste? No one wants it, but it has to go somewhere.
Trotting out phrases like "economic declaration of war on America's families" is just another fear-mongering, knee-jerk sound bite put together by the GOP's focus group brigade.
It adds nothing to the political dialog, and only serves to stir up the GOP's base.
Once again, the GOP is contributing nothing of substance to addressing our country's pressing problems.
I have a feeling that if Obama came out and said he supports all kinds of puppies, the GOP would immediately respond that puppies are dangerous and will hurt our childrens' future.
It 's incredible that Republicans oppose creating thousands of green jobs that will free our country from dependence on petroleum...FOREVER.
But that's the Republican philosphy: NEVER look forward to the future, NEVER find real solutions to our problems; always try to lead the country backward in time to the past.
Same old lame Republican attempts to solve a market externality with the same market that has the externality, and of course they trump up some faux populism to sell it.
Mike Pence is not to be trusted. He lamented Obama's handshake with Chavez and claimed the president was being careless and allowing himself to be used as propaganda by Chavez. Funny, we didn't hear Republicans making the same claim when Bush shook hands with Chavez. Funny, there was no opposition when Bush Sr or Reagan or any other predecessor shook hands with Soviet Premiers.
Bottom line, Pence will say anything to score partisan points. The truth doesn't get in his way.
This is a plan? The rethugicants must be real morons. Basically they are proposing "Drill Baby Drill" and more nukes, both of which will take 10-15 years to develop. In the mean time they want us to do what Jimma Carter wanted us to do in the 70's – Turn down our thermostats and wear sweaters.
As for the environment they take the usual "Our Christian God will take care of things" approach so there is no need to curtail spewing CO2 unchecked. Besides, like Michelle Bachmann said, "CO2 is natural".
Idiots...
Another "I don't have any ideas, but I don't like yours" from the Republicans. It's getting tiresome. Someone change the record, please.
WE MUST WASTE ! ! !
WE MUST POLLUTE ! ! !
WE MUST SACRIFICE OUR KIDS TO ENSURE OIL COMPANY PROFITS ! ! !
The bleating of the Republican Sheep grow louder every day, as they come up with ever more twisted and bizarre logic on why poisoning our air and water and mortgaging our future to oil terrorists is a Core Republican Party Value.
Republicans = Be afraid. Be scared. Dangerous. Boo!!!
Poor Mr Pence you and your miss guided energy policies are buried in the stink of greed, lack of vision of the future and lack of insight. The word Eron and saying drill baby drill, is just down right stupid. And I own a car that is not enviornmentally friendly making the presendential limo look like a electric car. I get it, the majority of Americans get it, we have to change our ways dramatically now.
We are past the point of thinking about clean energy, we need clean energy now. We have wasted opportunity after opportunity to create energy independance through the last 30 years, create a new American manufacturing base that can be a major stablizing factor in American economics. I guess after this rant of mine, I have only one question. Why do you not get the sense of urgency Mr Pence?
Party of NO, comes through again!
Wow this is so interesting. Lets drill everywhere, on shore off shore, drill on Natural Reserves near the Colorado River, instead of chanting Drill Baby Drill, it will be Glow Baby Glow....
Why do the Democrates want to do things that is not an eye sore, harnessing the sun and the wind, it is free and quite natural and we got plenty of it.
Just think, oil rigs all over the place or wind turbines....
Is the Amercan People that guliable and stuck in the 20th century or are you coming forth to the 21st century... Sometimes it is easy to look back when life was a tad but easier.
Yep, "cap and trade" is effectively a tax and that is a good thing. Taxing to drive behavior has its place in good policy. While we are at it, it's time to raise taxes on gasoline and drive ourselves away from internal combustion engines in cars. Simplistic economics that relies on Adam Smith's "invisible hand" does not scale to this level, and is based on a flawed assumption that markets are made up of purely rational actors. Recent studies of how humans make decisions shows that is absolutely not the case, so we need to get over it and start working together to fix our problems actively rather than relying on cumulative self interest to get us where we need to go.
Better yet – bury the nuclear waste in the back yards of Republican families to test whether or not it's safe to store elsewhere. INSURANCE that it's done right.
More fear-mongering and the same old tired GOP pushing for their greedy Big Oil, which is at the heart of hurting Americans families while making record-breaking profits off our struggles!
What about offering a constructive compromise that looks to energy PROGRESS? Is that even in the capacity of this constant GOP criticism/obstruction?!
Here's the way Republicans work on most any issue:
1. Think of how to protect your rich buddies.
2. Think of simplistic answer to a complex issue.
3. Come up with a pack of lies to back it up.
4. Spew the lies, laced with a bit of hatred along with a slogan or two: "Drill Baby Drill."
4. Get Bubba to swallow it hook line and sinker.
A lot of us aren't fooled, though.
Just a follow-up to my last comment. When two different beliefs collide over such an important issue as the need to create a thoughtful energy policy. Compromise is what is significant. Otherwise, everyone is in the way. So don't bury the your beloved republican party any deeper than it already is. Because the American public will make the republican party irrelevant if progress is not made.
More nonsense from the Party of No
I don't mind the idea of drilling for oil, so long as it doesn't destroy the environment in the process. That is what bothers me most about "drill baby drill." If we have to do without a little energy to save the most beautiful places on earth? So be it. We're using too much already. People don't know the worth of something until its gone.
The Republican plan appeals to me, but I need more details instead of broad, overreaching statements. Likewise for the Democrats' plan. Either way, our energy costs will rise–our fuel supply is finite. It's simply a matter of how much and when. Regulation is a very careful line.
Typical Republican garbage. More oil drilling and 'Nucular' power plants (not in their back yard of course) and any attempt to help the environment will cost jobs and amounts to a 'tax'. Do shut up.
I do not care what the party of NO says.
Without having read their bill to see if it is unnecessarily generous to oil companies, or damaging to the arctic environment, the basic idea of what they are proposing is actually a good idea. (And its been decades since anyone of sound mind could say this about a Republican proposal)
Combine what the majority of people's short-sight concerns are now, with a methodology to get to our ultimate goal of drastically cutting down emissions and other energy-environmental damage, and achieving complete and total energy independence.
What we should do is, instead of dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into failed corporations, form a Department of Energy 'Army', creating plentiful jobs, and use it to develop the Bakken Formation, capturing probably our nation's richest oil natural resource for us, the People. As we know from oil corporation profits, we would earn more money than we spent, and help to offset our own tax base.
wow!! i am shcocked to see the gop have an issue. they are such a positive group. let me guess anything that dont like will bring down america. well the gop liked bush and cheney and that did almost bring us down. go away and get a new idea and some new members otherwise you will be irrelevant again as you are now.
ps sarah plain is not the answer
An all of the above approach...as long as it doesn't involve reducing dependence on oil, stopping dramatic climate change, or all around involving any effort on Republicans. Lazy bums
The Republicans just don't get it, do they? By rejecting science, from stem cell research to evolution to climate change, they ensure that the American people will continue to suffer. I don't know how you can base a party on so many concepts that run counter to the best available scientific evidence.
The same goes for their economic policies: Where did borrow and spend (combined with massive tax cuts aimed at upper-income earners) get us in the 1980s? Where did it get us now? The entire party simply seems to be a bunch of whiners.
Republicans are LOSERS!!!!!
More Republican BIG WORDS with no facts or data
Where were the Republicans BIG WORDS when the Bush plan was to continue on the path to nowhere ...?
The Party Of NO ... with plenty of NO ideas ...
DRILL DRILL DRILL .. same old gas from the repubs. Lets put the nuclear waste station in your backyard Mr. Pence. Oh, wait, we can put it close to the indians in their reservations!
There is nothing that the democrats propose that the GOP will agree with or support so lets just ignore them. Let them stumble around whatever delusional place that they exist in until they learn to try to work with the democrats. This their way or the highway may have worked when they were in power but it seems a little silly now. As for the republicans being worried about the consumer, that is a joke they are just trying to protect the utilities. Can anyone name one forward thinking policy proposal that the republicans have done since Nixon who created the EPA? NO NO NO NO NO.NO NO...........GOP=NOP
Do you need some more rosin Emperor Nero? The stupidity of the GOP on this one goes way beyond simply being wrong in fact "wrong" would be an improvment. Here is the the dirty (and inconveneint) truth about global warming. The rich will survive it. Atfer all "a rising tide lifts all yachts" As we saw with Katrina the most vulnerable in our world can't afford a second home in the mountains (future islands) and they can't afford to move either. Those of you who point out that "the world has been hotter than we will make it" you are right but would it have supported 7 billion people back then?
It's a plan from the dems. The repubs will cry no matter what like always. How about we just keep drilling for oil until it's gone and we can't breathe our own air. Whoever is against this should go try to live in China where there are no EPA or standards.
Cap and trade is a stupid way to hide an energy tax. It's been a bust in Europe.
Energy taxes would be better than either the Democrat or the Republican plans to induce energy conservation, and to finance alternative energy technology.
Nothing new here from Republicans. I am so tired of hearing no from these people on every issue. I wait for the day when Republicans figure out their ideas did not work. We need to move forward to repair the damage done this past eight years. You can't bash every new idea then say Obama is the most divisive President ever. It is you all that are divisive...
Will Congressman Pence will have one of the new tax payer funded nuclear power plants right next to HIS HOUSE?
How will Mr. Pence pay for the trillions to build these new potential chernobyls? He probably wants to put it on our chinese credit cards like he did for the completely unfunded Iraq war and medicare prescription drug benefit.
Conservative? HA!
The GOP pushed us into war and to the edge of environmental disaster with their energy policies. Why should we listen to anything these clowns have to say, under the pretense of caring about the average American? Two oilmen, Bush & Cheney, totally incinerated any credibility the Republicans have on this subject.
I am a conservative but i am fed up with the GOP. For 8 years, they ('we' until now) have ignored ecology and increased our dependence on foreign energy. Why? The only reason I can think of is that either Bush was bought by big business or that he really was that much of a follower of his daddy's oil politics. Until the Conservative Party is formed and can address issues without being knee jerk anti-liberal, I am no longer part of the GOP. (It's not that I am liberal but that I think someone is defining what is liberal and hence what the GOP should be against for their own purposes because I am very conservative but I simply don't see the logic behind what a lot of these guys are doing.)
Let me get this straight. The Republican party wants to cut CO2 emissions by using government subsidies instead of a market based approach such as a cap-and-trade program. Wow, the GOP really doesn't have any core principles. I'm all for alternative views and there certainly are a lot of problems with Waxman-Markey, but dissenting just for the sake of dissention won't get Republicans very far.
Typical!!!...and do they have any alternative but to raise taxes. Nope!
NO AGAIN,
What a surprise.
This is truly a party of loosers.
God help us all if they ever get back in power with their way of thinking.
Republicans don't like the idea of an energy tax because so many of them CHOSE to live in distant, exclusive suburbs and therefore, any added cost of gas will hit them much harder than us poor slobs who live within city limits and commute only a short distance, often on foot or by bus.
I used to work with a husband and wife who commuted 50 miles each way to the same office, usually leaving and arriving within 10-15 minutes of each other, and when I suggested they carpool, they looked at me oddly. "Why? We can afford to drive two cars." The green factor never entered into their thinking.
I now work at home. I don't own a car because there are 12 city bus routes near my house that will get me anywhere I need to go. Go ahead, run up the cost of gas to $10 a gallon; doesn't bother me one iota. But it will sure bother all those Republicans living in the outer suburbs whose commute starts costing them $50 a day.
I predict that this will ultimately be the downfall of the Democratic party. Fear-mongering on climate change, giveaways to the alternative energy hustlers, massive tax increases and unemployment – all for nothing. Why for nothing? Because China is opening 1,000 new coal burning plants EVERY YEAR. Even if climate change is man-made, the pathetic little impact the Obamessiah is proposing will be a drop in the bucket – but a nice little boondoggle for his donors in the alternative energy industry.
This will be the Democrat's Waterloo.
That's what democraps are good for, TAXING anything they can think of. I'm waiting for democraps to tax people every time they make a dump in the toilet of empty their bladder.
Nothing new with democraps, they love jobs but they hate corporations creating jobs. What choice corporations have but move their business overseas where they pay less corporate taxes.
Cap and trade is the project of Al Gore, he's salivating to make millions out of it at the expense of ordinary Joe working to feed his family. I am against cap and trade, I'm sure my fellow Americans are against it too. Al Gore is working behind the scene for cap and trade to pass. GE, the parent company of NBC, MSNBC, CNBC are also pushing for cap and trade to pass; they'lll make billions in profit for their wind turbine. If we are very serious about less consumption of fossil fuel, lets promote use of SOLAR PANELS. Wind turbine causes NOISE POLLUTION and detrimental to health of humans.
GENERAL ELECTRIC the BIGGEST beneficiary of cap and trade are busy promoting Obama thru their own TV networks.
The American people are slighted once again by the democraps. HELL NO! WE DON'T WANT CAP AND TRADE!
Tax this tax that tax air.
Gee AND his rubber stamp of bush's outrageous policies didn't cause all this in the first place. gee...what a two faced bunch of people these republicans BE.
Yeah, it's better to deny there's a problem and let big business continue to pollute and make profits because we all know those profits will trickle down and global warming is not proven, anyway. Just a bunch of science, which everyone knows is not as important as faith! And let's just drill the crap out the wildlife preserves in Alaska. Great plan!
We need an energy tax! Oil and coal industries have been allowed to pollute our common environment for decades without punishment. That amounts to a massive subsidy of those energy sources. Add to that the actual subsidies they have been receiving.
If we want to have a livable planet and we want to maintain the energy marketplace, then the only way to do that is to make polluting companies pay for the damage they are doing. Tax greenhouse gas emitting industries out of existence. They've prospered outrageously on humanity's dime for too long.
We ought to have an energy tax, especially for carbon based energy. It will actually give people an incentive to stop wasting it and for companies to produce energy efficient machine and to produce their own products more cheaply. Especially if some of the tax revenue went to subsidize energy efficient products, offsetting costs to consumers. Considering the already big tax breaks for doing things like making your homes more energy efficient, this would be a step in the right direction.
We also ought to be doing something like Japan does, making the most efficient model of any given appliance the mandatory standard of efficiency every few years (or maybe it is every year, I can't recall).
Of course they do.
Drill, baby drill.
Don't worry about nuclear waste and
don't give a second thought about what
our grandchildren, great grandchildren will
face with the environment.
Why do all the Republican proposals involve guys in suits making as much money as possible, and letting the rest of us suffer the consequences?
I agree with Mr. Pence. Why can't we use our own recourses for ourselvs. With nucler power it would work great. The Dems. cap and trade is not workable because of the cost to the american people. Other countrys are not going to go along with lowering the green house gases any way.
If cap and trade is such a good thing, why not start it during this administration? Why wait until 2014? Because when people realize what it is costing them, the current Bozo's in Congress will not have to deal with their wrath and might even find a way to blame it on Republicans.
big surprise...
The party of no.
The idea is good but not well thought out. One study shows it will cost 2 jobs for every job it creates. If the US spends billions but cannot get anyone else in the world to participate, then it is a waste. Lastly, EVERY TAXPAYER WILL PAY MORE IN TAXES.
Typically Democrat answer to a problem ... if it eats, sleeps, breathes or moves, tax it.
I'm very sick of the republican anti-environment ,economic strength at all cost, attitude.
Nothing new here. What haen't they complained about opposed?
Rep. Mike Pence - this is the same old let's not do the right thing thinking that we have all heard for years - besides he and the republican party need those polluters dollars. It not about public health and global warming - it about protecting our contributors. The Repulicans had 8 years to do something - now they have a plan to kill progress
Fear mongering on behalf of the GOP for power/money's sake...we all know you guys are bought and whose real interests you represent...not the American people's interests...not even business interests...only interested in your few overtly rich and powerful friends who love tax breaks at the behest of the rest of us hardworking Americans..when you have a real, ingenius plan...then you can open your mouths, but until then...shutty! What a travesty we still have such a party in America!
Makes some people wonder why nothing was done for 8 years, but now they want to lead????????
Oh, yeah, this is the same plan they had during the last two elections and the GOP did a lot of deregulating which hasn't helped the environment or the American people with jobs one bit...so again, shut up!
Republicans need to stop talking, the environment is going down hill, it has been proven scientfically and we can feel its effects now. There are other living species on this world, i think we should fix what we've done wrong in the past
declares the Lord
My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of the living water,
and have dug thier own cisterns
broken cisterns that cannot hold water...
Have you not brougth this on yourselves
by forsaking the Lord your God
when he led you in the way?
Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the Lord your God
and have no awe of me
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. Read Jeremiah Chap 2
Hey CNN, how about "Republicans attack climate bill but acceptable details are sparse.
You know, kinda relates to thin??
The GOP continues to flounder preying on "Fear". It would be nice to have a GOP that is a party of solutions and the future. So long as the GOP, Palin is a great example, continues to stoke the flames of fear, we as a party will go nowhere.
I hope somebody from the GOP is reading these posts! They need to know how far out of touch they are from mainstream America.
We see again the republicans are owned by the oil cartel and will go any lengths to stop any good move to renewable fuels.
They still want the bill that was written by the oil companies and given to Cheney to try to force upon the American public. Cheney invited all the major energy companies to give him the bill they wanted and he is not man enough to present even players to American people.
Cheney will to any lengths to fill his pockets and bank account. He even started a subsidiary of Halliburton off shore of USA and did business with Iran and it was and sitll is illegal for any American company to do business with Iran, that is how much he loves this country, he loves the money he can make by doing business here and abroad if necessary, legal or illegal.
Cap and trade is a market mechanism for reducing GHG emissions in an economically efficient way. Its the very opposite of a tax.
This Republican habit of lying through their teeth seems to have settled into an unbreakable pattern. Anything that they don't like is either a "tax" or it's "terrorism."
All that they have to offer America is the message "BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!"
“This national energy tax amounts to an economic declaration of war on America's families, small businesses and family farms. The American people know we can do better,” Pence said.
As opposed to the "national energy tax" last summer when gas cost $4-5 a gallon and families had to give up food and medical care for gas?
Hey GOPosaurs – stop telling me it's raining while you're peeing on my leg. We are not stupid. We showed you that in Novemeber. Now shut up and get to work fixing the problems you guys caused us since the 1970s.
Democrats taxing Americans leading to welfare and the inevitable subservience to the government.
The party of no still has no new ideas, just the same old reheated gobbledygoo of the Bush years. How about one of these GOP nobodies explain where all that nuclear waste is going to go? Just more reason to despise the right-wingers even more.
I am so sick of the republicans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, a commitment to alternative energy.....AFTER the oil runs out.
The Democrats plan is a good plan. Perhaps twenty years ago the Republican's plan would've been feasible, but climate change is a very serious problem that we have to take strong, meaningful action on now. This isn't something that we as a nation can cheap out on.
Why don't these d@mn Republicans come up with some viable solutions instead of complaining all the time. We are in this mess because in 8 years they didn't have one single decent idea. Now, suddenly they are so bright. And where is that supposed alternative budget they had to answer President Obama's? The Republicans are so scared that President Obama will clean up this mess, they can't even get on with any real business. For once I wish they would cooperate. And to the conservative minions who permeate this blog: No one hates Bush. Liberals are not haters, we are patriots who don't like what happened to America. God Bless President Obama.
Where does the nuclear waste go? People talk about nuclear power but no one wants a reactor in their back yard or a waste dump either.
This country, and the world for that matter, is at a crisis. We have grown too much for our oil reserves to continue to support us, yet the middle class has already taken too many hits from Republican economic policies, which the Clinton administration gladly supported. We must act now, while the time and atmosphere is right and more toward a greener future.
We need to adapt a two part strategy for our energy needs. First, continue with our oil, gas and coal usage for the immediate future. Pricing these resources out of the range of the average American is just another blow we can't take. Second, and while we have an administration who understands the need, we need a policy that helps green energy production forge ahead. Enact tax policies for companies to move ahead with clean energy strategies. Enact tax policies that help average Americans buy into clean energy.
Let's look to countries that have already invested in solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear energy and take the best ideas and put them into play here in America.
We just need to be smart and be realistic.
Eve though I am a capitalist, I don't have much confidence that the free market will achieve the pollution reductions that are seriously needed. We have to set collective goals to do so and our national government is in the best position to do so.
I don't recall the energy planned being pursued by congress as the "Democratic" plan, yet this latest proposal is the "Republican" energy plan. As if it is only for Republicans.
Can the members of congress not even engage in discussions and negotiations among themselves? Can't we have a true "American" energy plan?
This cap and trade bill is stupid. With the problems in Iran we should be and should have been drilling in this country but Obama; democrats and environmentalists have stopped us from doing just that. I'm all for alternative energy but we are a long way from being there and should try to keep energy costs down to a reasonable level until then. I wonder who the far left wingnuts will now blame for the high costs of gas which is one big reason we are in this mess. Oh I know it will still be Bush's fault and Obama will say he handed the high prices by the previous adminstration. Yeah sure hypocrite!!!
On this issue, as with health care, climate change, and most other issues facing this country over the past few decades, the GOP are trying to perpetuate business-as-usual. We've had a free ride for far too long and it is going to cost to resolve these problems. There can be no gain without some pain.
besides hot air from the GOP do they even have a clue
Drill Baby, Drill!! And 100 new nuclear reactors – at what cost, which won't be ready for 10 years, AND what are they going to do with the waste, that already no state wants. Talk about NO plan??? Marlene in Mich
The Republicans have the better plan on this one.
The argument that further domestic drilling will reduce energy costs and reduce foreign dependence is flawed because it ignores basic facts: oil prices are set by the international market, not the domestic market alone, and hence no matter how much we want to increase production OPEC will outgun us by just reducing their production. Also, our own oil companies sell our oil on the international market. There is no law requiring them to sell domestic production to the domestic market only, and they don't. They even admit that they set their oil prices to international value and they sell oil to foreign countries. Giving these oil companies more allowance for domestic production will do jack squat for energy prices or the American taxpayer. The only thing it will do is further the profits of these corrupt, unpatriotic oil magnates!
You want to reduce energy cost? How about using less energy! You don't need to set your AC to 50F in the middle of summer, and sometimes you could just walk one block down the street instead of driving your SUV every time. And perhaps you could use the night for sleeping instead of keeping your lights, your computer, and your stereo system on.
But politicians never advocate less energy use. That would hurt their oil buddies' profits.
Those morons wouldn't know sensible and responsible government if it bit them in the butt. HIGH TIME clean energy was aggressively encouraged and the oil companies paid their fair share and stopped holding the country hostage to their obscene profits, at the cost of our very world we live in. Ignore the corporate and Republican rants, they are just desperate for their beloved and lucrative status quo.
I think Obama needs to make the reduction even bigger. The GOP is worried about money, but with no planet left, money really will not be an issue. I think obama needs to do way more on health care as well. The GOP isn't going to support anything, so lets do thing right this time before our chance for change is over. Change things all the way, not half ass.
Yup Mike and we might even get "breathable" air in Indianapolis, Cincinnati and other cities where coal still reigns supreme in power generation and rates remain under half of both coasts.
Pence is a prime example of just what is wrong with the GOP. Pander, offer no solution and just keep saying "no". I'd be curious if this cretin's constituents are "whacko" enough to give him another term.
Yes Mike, "The American People know we can do better". We did in 2008 and will in 2010.
Times like these make it clear to this born Hoosier why he left Indiana.
For national security, jobs and enviromental reasons, we need to move away from an oil based economy. Wether we do that by cap and trade, an energy tax or by mandate, we need to change. Change is going to cost money until we have moved far enough in the new direction. Anyone who supports bau is supporting the greed of large energy companies over the needs of our country.
Think about it. Jobs created using solar or wind energy is money that stays in the US instead of transfering our wealth to oil rich countries. We will never pump enough oil out of our own soil to meet our current domestic needs and as long as we are dependent on other countries for our energy needs, we are not an independent nation (aka our foriegn policy is dictated by our energy needs).
This Republican proposal deserves consideration, however, Republicans are now saying that their proposals are a better way. If that is true, why did they not enact legislation to support their better ideas?
Perhaps I am too cynical but it seems that Republicans are now proposing alternatives to all of President Obama's proposals saying that their way is better. Is it really or are they trying to preserve breaks for their fat cat business partners?
I'm surprised that the Republicans claim to know what the American people want since the voters thoroughly rejected the Republicans last November. Do Republicans really know what the American people want or they just grasping at straws. I think it is the latter.
We could have had fuel efficient automobiles decades ago but for the conservatives. Now the American automakers are in the crapper. And we are perhaps now too dependant on fossil fuels to ever be weaned. You've proven to be short sighted and driven by convenience and greed.
Please, I am so tired of the GOP's ranting and ravings about nothing. They offer nothing that will help this country. Instead of whinning and crying about how you can find nothing of substances to fight Pres Obama on, why don't you try and be grown ups and help turn the country around.
"The plan calls for expanded exploration of domestic sources for oil and natural gas...and incentives for the public to focus on conservation."
Uhhhhh, hypocritical much?
Drill Baby Drill!
That is hardly a news flash that Republicans do not care about the environment at all. They finally have a bill an idea from the party of no and it is the same old thing. They will never learn. Nothing new from the Republicans.
What has become an ideological war, and not an intellectual debate on our climate and any changes taking or not taking place, is now a question of force. The government is effectively forcing progress in this nation at all cost. Where is the pragmatism in this policy? Why do we need more policy instead of enforcing existing policy? Has the EPA become such a bedfellow to big business that it is no longer capable of functioning as a protective regulatory agency? While, sadly, the answer to that question may be yes, should be rebuild instead of repair?
I work in the manufacturing sector. While I am not in love with the company I work for, we do strive at what I often consider extreme levels to be environmentally responsible. If I were to credit the company I work for with anything, it would be our environmental policies. I am very sure that my company is not alone in this endeavor. Is it too much to ask our government to stop, breathe, think and then react?
The Party of NO at it again...when are they going to get with the program???? It is called WORKING TOGETHER in making a better USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think the bill goes far enough. And why do Republicans hate Americans who don't think like them, as well as all the other people of the world? They get on the floor of the house and senate and repeat lies so often it becomes part of the ignorant's "common knowledge."
The Republicans say they want to build 100 new nuclear power plants. How do they propose to pay for them? My understanding is that part of the reason we haven't built any new nuclear plants in the last 20 years is that, in addition to having no plan for the waste, it is just too expensive. Where is the trillion dollars it will cost going to come from?
Oh good Lord, Pence. You want to build 150 new nuclear reactors, the most expensive and polluting sources of energy known to man, which will not come on line for several decades. And you resort to the old trick of renaming something you don't like as a "tax", in hopes of scaring the gullible. Just go away until you have something substantive to the debate.
higher taxes and NO benefits.
all al gore hysteria and no scientific proof. remeber al gore flunked divinity school and dropped out of law school.
he knows nothing about science except making up hoaxes.
however. one thing about al gore id true he left the white house with $2MM and now has ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS!
how did that happen?
If people don't start taking "global warming" seriously, we will ALL pay the consequences, and it won't be fun.
No really, do your research.
One just has to wait for the greenhouse gas 'runaway' to take place, when the Siberian and North American permafrost releases its methane load, the global temperature goes up five degrees celsius, Greenland and Antarctica shed much of their ice sheets, and the sea level rises two or three meters.
I may live to see this happen, though this happening may be the death of me.
One hopes that all the people who sought to profit by delaying action on climate change are all punished in accordance to their crime.
When will we realize that climate change takes places with or without man? This panic mode of "Global Warming Disaster" and the sky is falling is just going to cost us average world citizens more money and hardship as well as jobs. How about this: We safely drill for gas and oil in our own country where we know it exists. While doing that, we begin to work on new technologies (I.e. wind, solar) and slowly ween ourselves off of fossil fuels and coal. We have water cleaning sources available right now to begin the cleaning up of our toxic ground water, rivers and lakes. Gradual successful transformation is what we need. Allow the auto industry and other modes of transportation to really head towards better and cleaner methods of travel, while not killing all together what we know works right now. Nuclear energy can be a good substitute for coal while we are in the process of changing from fossil, to natural fuels. Let's use some logic here. What I've said here will produce more jobs, put us on a track to a healthier climate, stop the rhetoric and panic and corrupt money makers like Al Gore, and eventually, solve our energy needs for a world constantly increasing in population. Just common sense.
The chairman of the House GOP American Energy Solutions Group?
When did the the GOP have anything that resembled an energy policy?
In the very rare instance when the Republican´s come up with a plan, it always has to be a slap at our President first and then their proposal... I wonder why, if they know better than the President, they didn´t come up with this plan anytime in the past eight years.
I guess the "party of NO" stigma, is begining to get to them... It´s about time!
Yeah! Like Repubs havent hurt America enough already. BO is doing great! If you don't like him how about we switch with another world leader like Ahmadinejad. U ungrateful people dont know half of what its like to walk in BO's shoes! LOSERS! (And Im Independent!)
this again is a bunch of crap ,for the simple reason of what makes this man or any republican an expert in global energy , its all about oil.
so shut up and let the new adm. make the changes that will help all of us not just this generation but for the rest of time .
we will all be long gone by the time anyof what Obama wants to acomplish ,but it will clean up what mess we are in right now .
so this man should shut up and get on board
CHANGE IS COMMING CHANGE FOR A CLEAN ENERGY
CHANGE FOR A CLEANER EARTH
CHANGE TAKING AWAY THE CONTROL FROM BIG CORPORATIONS
CHANGE BECAUSE WE ARE SICK OF BEING SCAMED BY BIG BUSINESS
Im sorry but I am about sick to death of seeing old white guys with ORANGE skin talk trash about everything the President does. Look, they have NO solutions, no ideas, and NO clue what this country wants. They need to shut up and go away until Rush lets them out!
What the Republicans propose is a great idea. We can't just depend on the market for green tech, sorry but its not there. In the time we wait for it to catch up we will end up paying massive energy bills, more for food, and more for goods. The cost of living in the US WILL go through the roof, the upper 5% will become the new middle class and the rest of us will end up living in a van down by the river. I am not joking the cost of every thing WILL go up with the Democrats proposal, and for what cleaner air? I'd rather live in a smog filled city and have plenty to eat for cheap then living with clean air and having no electricity and no food. We can't just let them pass this stuff with out thinking of ALL possible out comes. Please I beg every body on the left and the right to stop this before it destroys our way of life.
Finally. The Republicans have been too far behind the curve on exploring new energy. I'm glad they've put in motion an actual plan, rather than empty rhetoric. Well done.