[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 12, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H5408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ENERGY TAX

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
West Virginia (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  Americans are very concerned about our economy right now, and one of 
the things that gives them a lot of concern is where we are in terms of 
price for energy.
  The Republicans have a group called the American Energy Solutions 
Group that has been working on this issue, and I want to share some 
information that they have put together. Republicans, despite what our 
colleagues on the other side have said, have alternatives to the 
problems that we're facing in this country, but often these 
alternatives are not getting the attention from the majority party they 
deserve.
  Despite the President's campaign promise not to raise taxes on 95 
percent of Americans, his energy plan is nothing more than a $646 
billion national energy tax on every American family and small 
business. As families and businesses struggle in these difficult times, 
it's unconscionable to make the pain worse by forcing taxpayers to pay 
ever-higher energy bills.
  The President's energy plan will force family energy costs to rise by 
more than $3,100 per year and will pull $860 billion out of family 
budgets and put it into the Federal budget. And this is being 
optimistic. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the 
real cost to be as high as $3 trillion over the next 10 years. That 
means $1,000 in energy tax hikes for every man, woman and child.
  The President's own budget director, Peter Orszag, has testified that 
a tax on carbon emissions would ``impose costs on the economy,'' and 
that consumers will pay these costs through higher energy prices. The 
President himself has admitted that his plan will cause energy prices 
to skyrocket.
  The poor will be hit the hardest by this national energy tax. Experts 
agree that poor families spend a larger portion of their income on 
energy costs. Not even the President's modest Make Work Pay tax credit 
is enough to cover the high energy costs that will be forced on 
American families.
  Instead of providing solutions to keep energy costs low, the 
President and Democrats in Washington are proposing a national energy 
tax that will hit every worker, family and business across our country. 
Republicans support helping American families through these difficult 
times through immediate tax relief, not increased taxes.
  Since the current economic recession began in December of 2007 with 
the Democrats in charge of Congress, more than 5 million jobs have been 
lost. Yet the President proposes an energy plan that could result in 
anywhere between 1.8 and 7 million additional jobs being lost. The only 
jobs that are going to be created are for more government bureaucrats.
  Republicans support keeping energy prices low at home and at the pump 
through American energy by American workers. Instead of creating 
American energy made by American workers, the President's energy plan 
keeps us dependent on foreign oil.
  Republicans support more American-made energy through the creation of 
new and renewable energy sources, conservation and more domestic energy 
production. Giving American workers the resources to create American-
made energy will keep the cost of energy low for American consumers.
  The President and the Democrat-controlled Congress are using this 
economic crisis as an opportunity to force dramatic change on the 
American people. As the President's own chief of staff has said, ``You 
never let a crisis go to waste.''
  As Robert Samuelson noted in March, the President says he is focused 
on the economy, ``but he's also using the crisis to advance an 
ambitious long-term agenda.'' One thing is certain, it's an agenda that 
will lead to more taxes, fewer jobs and less energy.
  The Republicans have an alternative. It's called all of the above. We 
should develop all the resources that we have in the United States. We 
should conserve, we should look for alternatives, and we should use 
this opportunity to create more jobs and grow the economy, not kill 
jobs and slow the economy down even more.
  Mr. Speaker, we need the Republican plan to be paid attention to. The 
American people want it, and they deserve it.

                          ____________________