[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4505-4506]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               ENERGY TAX

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, as lawmakers return to Washington 
this week, we did so against the backdrop of many world crises. From 
recovery efforts in Japan, to battles everywhere from Afghanistan to 
Libya, to an unfolding economic crisis in Europe, the scope and 
intensity of world events in recent months has been nothing short of 
breathtaking.
  Yet in the middle of all this, it is important we not lose sight of 
the struggles and concerns of so many around us here at home. At a time 
when roughly 1 in 4 American homeowners owes more money on their 
mortgage than their home is worth, at a time when nearly 1 in 10 
working Americans is looking for a job, at a time when the Federal debt 
has reached heights none of us could have even imagined just a few 
years ago, now is not the time to lose focus on the paramount issue on 
the minds of Americans every day, and that is the very real crisis we 
face when it comes to jobs.
  Americans look around them and they see neighbors and friends 
struggling to find work. Yet all they seem to get from the White House 
are policies that handcuff small businesses with burdensome new 
regulations and redtape and that create even more uncertainty about the 
future, including the administration's inexplicable and inexcusable 
inaction on trade deals that would level the playing field with our 
competitors overseas.
  They are tired of it. Americans are tired of the White House paying 
lipservice to their struggles while quietly promoting effort after 
effort, either through legislation or some backdoor regulation, that 
makes it harder, not easier, for businesses to create new jobs. But the 
administration outdid itself last week, when the President told a 
Brazilian President the United States hopes to be a major customer in 
the market for oil that Brazilian businesses plan to extract from new 
oil finds off the Brazilian coast.
  We can't make this stuff up. Here we have the administration looking 
for just about any excuse it can find to lock up our own energy 
resources here at home, even as it is applauding another country's 
efforts to grow its own economy and create jobs by tapping into its 
energy sources.
  For 2 years, the administration has canceled dozens--dozens--of oil 
and gas leases all across America. It has raised permit fees. It has 
shut down deepwater drilling in the gulf. It would not even allow a 
conversation about exploring for oil in a remote 2,000-acre piece of 
land in northern Alaska that experts think represents one of our best 
opportunities for a major oil find. It continues to press for new 
regulations through the Environmental Protection Agency that would 
raise energy

[[Page 4506]]

costs for every business in America and lead to untold lost jobs for 
more American workers.
  In other words, in the midst of average gas prices approaching $4 a 
gallon and a chronic jobs crisis, the White House plans to make the 
climate for job growth worse. That is why Republicans, led in the 
Senate by Senator Inhofe, have proposed legislation to prevent the new 
energy tax from ever taking effect without congressional approval. The 
Wall Street Journal has called the amendment we are proposing ``one of 
the best proposals for growth and job creation to make it onto the 
Senate docket in years.''
  Our amendment would assure small businesses across the country that 
they will not be hit with yet another costly new job-stifling burden by 
Democrats in Washington. It will give voters the assurance that a 
regulation of this kind, which would have a dramatic impact on so many, 
could not be approved without their elected representatives standing 
and actually voting for it. At a time of rising energy prices, it would 
prevent Democrats in Washington from adding even more pressure to 
energy prices than they already have out of fealty to special interests 
that would rather we buy our energy from overseas than find and use the 
bountiful resources we already have right here at home.
  I wish to thank Senator Inhofe, once again, for leading us on this 
issue. His bill, upon which my amendment is based, has 43 cosponsors. 
He deserves the credit. He has been a fierce and tireless advocate not 
only for American energy but also against new EPA regulations that 
would sidestep the legislative process. I thank him for his work, along 
with the great work Senators Murkowski and Barrasso have done, in 
educating the American people about these issues.
  At a time when Americans are looking for answers on the economy, this 
amendment is as good as it gets from Washington. By voting for it, we 
would be saying no to more regulations and redtape and we would be 
saying yes to American job creators and to the jobs they want to 
create. I urge my colleagues in both parties to support it.

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