HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Sep 9, 2008 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on the latest “no energy” legislation discussed at a news conference today and expected to be introduced later this week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her colleagues in the Democratic Majority:

“The American people want Congress to vote on an energy bill that does it all.  This proposal does virtually the opposite.  It’s an insult to Americans pummeled all summer long by sky-high gas prices, who watched congressional Democrats skip town for five weeks without voting on the comprehensive energy reforms Americans need and want. 

“This latest ‘no energy’ bill is just more of the same from a Majority more interested in appeasing radical special-interest groups that favor high gas prices and contribute millions to Democratic campaigns.  It leaves most American energy under lock and key when we should be doing everything possible to expand energy production, increase conservation, and promote development of clean, renewable energy.  It would permanently lock up 80 percent of our nation’s offshore energy resources – holding hostage billions of barrels of American oil at a time when we can use their revenue to develop new sources of clean, renewable energy.

“Last month it was revealed that Speaker Pelosi has quietly told rank-and-file Democrats they should feel free to say one thing on American energy production to their constituents while doing another in Washington.  This bill is clearly part of that cynical, disingenuous election-year strategy.  If rank-and-file Democrats are serious about increasing the supply of American-made energy in a comprehensive manner, they should prove it to their constituents by signing onto the American Energy Act, joining us in calling on the Speaker to bring it to an immediate vote, and voting with us to pass it.”

NOTE:  While the Democrats’ bill purports to increase drilling for oil and gas offshore, the measure actually will permanently lock up 80 percent of these resources and leave most other potential sources of new American-made energy completely untapped.  Conversely, increased American energy production is a cornerstone of House Republicans’ American Energy Act (H.R. 6566), an “all of the above” plan to lower gas prices by encouraging more conservation and efficiency, promoting the use of more alterative and renewable fuels, and expanding drilling on remote lands and far off American shores in an environmentally-safe way.  Notably, the bill creates a renewable energy trust fund that would be financed through revenues from drilling from several energy-rich locations in Alaska and far off our shores.

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