President Obama's Energy Tax

Floor Speech

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.

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