Mike Pence Denounces Democrats’ Latest National Energy Tax

This measure will force Americans to pay more for everyday necessities like gas and electricity.

Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference and the American Energy Solutions Group, released the following statement today after Senate Democrats introduced their latest version of climate legislation:

"In Indiana and across this nation, Americans want Congress to focus on policies that will create jobs. Instead, Democrats are continuing to push a job-killing national energy tax that will cap growth and trade jobs. This measure will force Americans to pay more for essentials like gas and electricity and force businesses to lay off workers; a point recently confirmed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which said a cap-and-tax system will lead to higher unemployment and lower wages. This bill is essentially an economic declaration of war on middle America.

"What the American people need is an environmentally-responsible all-of-the-above energy plan that develops American resources, creates jobs, and promotes energy independence. House Republicans continue to offer that plan." ###

For Additional Information Contact Matt Lloyd or Mary Vought at (202) 226-9000 or matt.lloyd@mail.house.gov

Kerry-Lieberman Would ‘Crash Dive’ Economy Back to the 1870s

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today made the following statement on the global warming bill announced by U.S. Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.:

“Put me down as skeptical of Kerry-Lieberman’s chances despite the uptick in political pressure now because, as the BBC aptly put it this morning, ‘After the elections, the Democrats may well lose their stranglehold on Congress.’

“Its authors say their new bill isn’t warmed over cap and trade, but there aren’t many differences between Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Lieberman where it counts – Government-set prices on CO2, sweetheart deals for supportive industries and states with their own fledgling cap-and-trade systems, and economic punishments for anybody who doesn’t get with the program. And just like with Waxman-Markey, we’ll need to crash dive the economy back to something resembling the 1870s in order to reach the anti-global warming targets that Kerry-Lieberman sets for 2020, 2030 and 2050.

“I think these kinds of efforts fail largely because most Americans refuse to accept that global warming means our best days are behind us. Nobody I know thinks it’s good that a reenactment of their great-great-grandparents’ lives is the best they can hope to pass on to their children.”

House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans May 12, 2010 2322A Rayburn House Office Building | Washington, DC 20515 | (202) 225-3641