Robert B. Sklaroff, M.D.
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MEMORANDUM

 

TO:      House Republicans

 

FR:       Republican Leader John Boehner

Republican Whip Roy Blunt

Conference Chairman Adam Putnam

            Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor

 

DA:      July 22, 2008  

 

RE:       House Republicans Demand a Vote on the American Energy Act

 

American families continue to be crushed by high gas prices, and they are looking for leadership from Washington. House Republicans have stepped forward with meaningful solutions that will increase the supply of American-made energy, lower gas prices and promote energy independence. For their part, all Democratic leaders have offered is the same empty rhetoric and failed policies that have resulted in $4 gas.

 

Over the last two months, House Republicans have proposed solution after legislative solution to America’s energy crisis, including expanded deep water and Arctic coastal plain exploration, and increased investment in next-generation alternative and renewable energies. It is truly an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. House Republicans have aggressively carried this national dialogue forward and offered real solutions that will lower gas prices.  The American people are listening, and the plan is attracting bipartisan support in Congress.

 

Democrats in charge of Congress, however, are charting a very different course. While gas prices soar and Americans cry out for action, this Democratic Congress has refused to take meaningful action to help lower gas prices and promote energy independence, and it’s on track to become the least productive Congress in 25 years.  The American people are demanding action, and time is running short.

 

This week, House Republicans will introduce our “all-of-the-above” energy plans in a single piece of legislation: the American Energy Act. The bill will increase the supply of American-made energy, improve conservation and efficiency, and promote renewable and alternative energy technologies.

 

To increase the supply of American-made energy in environmentally sound ways, the legislation will:

 

  • Open our deep water ocean resources, which could provide an additional 3 million barrels of oil per day, as well as 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas;

  • Open the Arctic coastal plain, which could provide an additional 1 million barrels of oil per day;

  • Allow development of our nation’s shale oil resources, which could provide an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil per day; and

  • Increase the supply of gas at the pump by cutting bureaucratic red tape that hinders the construction of new refineries.

 

To improve energy conservation and efficiency, the legislation will:

 

  • Provide tax incentives for businesses and families that purchase more fuel efficient vehicles;

  • Provide a monetary prize for being the first to develop an economically feasible, super-fuel-efficient vehicle (reaching 100 miles-per-gallon); and

  • Provide tax incentives for businesses and homeowners who improve their energy efficiency.


To promote alternative and renewable energy technologies, the legislation will:

 

  • Spur the development of alternative fuels through government contracting, the repeal of the "Section 526" prohibition on government purchasing of alternative energy and promotion of coal-to-liquids technology;

  • Establish a renewable energy trust fund using revenues generated by exploration in the deep ocean and on the Arctic coastal plain;

  • Permanently extend the tax credit for alternative energy production, including wind, solar and hydrogen; and

  • Eliminate barriers to the expansion of emission-free nuclear power production.

 

This legislation will demonstrate to the world that America will no longer keep its rich energy resources under lock-and-key. It will be a landmark step toward energy independence, and it will make needed investments in the alternative fuels that will power our lives and our economy in the future.

 

Numerous independent polls show the American people strongly support this approach to addressing our energy crisis. It would clearly garner the support of a bipartisan majority of Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and it is legislation that the President would sign into law. Yet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) continues to stand in the way of lower gas prices for struggling families and small businesses. When asked last week whether she would schedule a vote on meaningful legislation to increase American energy production, the Speaker told CNN, “I have no plans to do so.”

 

The Democratic leadership in Congress is defying the will of the American people and a bipartisan majority in Congress. American families are suffering. Time is running short, and further inaction can no longer be tolerated.

 

House Republicans will stand together beginning today and demand that the Democratic leadership hold a vote on the American Energy Act before Congress adjourns for the month of August. Tomorrow, all House Republicans will assemble on the West Front Steps at approximately 1:30pm to unveil our legislation and publicly demand the up-or-down vote the American people deserve. The text of this legislation is attached to this memo. To become an original co-sponsor of this legislation, please contact Mary Coleman in Leader Boehner’s office at 5-4000 by 6 p.m. today.

 

We will use every option at our disposal to force a vote on the American Energy Act. America’s energy future should not be held hostage to the whims of radical special-interest groups that support higher gas prices. If Speaker Pelosi and her liberal colleagues in the Democratic leadership continue to defy the will of the American people, they do so at their own peril.

 

To contact me--Robert B. Sklaroff, M.D.--just send an e-mail (rsklaroff@comcast.net).