Speaker Pelosi's National Energy Tax Squeaks by Thanks to Billions in Special-Interest Handouts and Pet Projects

House Democrats Trade Billions in Taxpayer-Financed Handouts to Buy Votes for Pelosi's Energy Tax

Last Friday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rammed a job-killing 1,500 page national energy tax through the House that will raise electricity prices, increase gasoline prices, and ship American jobs overseas to countries like China and India.  In the weeks leading up to the vote, however, many Democrats were openly balking over  the burdensome taxes Pelosi’s national energy tax would levy on the American middle class.  Just weeks before the vote, Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) said “In my district, a 'no' vote would be a good vote.”

So how did Speaker Pelosi cajole her fellow Democrats into voting for what House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) described as “the most profound piece of legislation that has come to the floor of this House in the last 100 years”?  With a combination of special-interest handouts, pet projects, and special exemptions for certain Democratic House Members – all financed on the taxpayers’ dime. 

Examples of how the Democrats came up with 219 votes for their national energy tax follow:

- Alan Grayson (D-FL) “sought $50 million for a hurricane research center in Orlando” in exchange for his vote.  - CQ Politics, 6/26/09

- Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) “said he voted for the bill only after he succeeded in getting language included that will allow wood waste from federal, state and private forest land and the byproducts of pulp and paper mills to be counted as renewable energy.” - The Columbian, 6/26/09

- “In a deal with Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN)…leaders agreed to let the Agriculture Department run a key program for farmers, rather than the Environmental Protection Agency, which was seen as being less friendly to agribusiness.” - The Wall Street Journal, 6/29/09

- “[Democrats] finally secured the vote of one Ohioan, veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, the old-fashioned way.  They gave her what she wanted - a new federal power authority, similar to Washington state's Bonneville Power Administration, stocked with up to $3.5 billion in taxpayer money.” - The Washington Times, 7/1/09

- “[Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) had called the legislation crafted by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) ‘weak’ on the House floor, adding he could not support it.  He later changed his mind in a huge blow to GOP hopes of taking down the bill.” - The Hill, 6/28/09

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth - normally solid allies of the Speaker from San Francisco – called out the House Democrats’ special-interest handouts last month, stating that Pelosi’s energy tax is “the triumph of industry influence over the public interest.”  And Clive Crook, writing in the Financial Times this week, noted that Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax “creates a vastly complicated apparatus, a playground for special interests and rent-seekers, a minefield of unintended consequences – and the bottom line for all that is business as usual.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) noted on Monday that there was a better way forward than passing a new national energy tax on every American:

“Republicans believe there is a better route to more jobs, reliable energy, and a cleaner, healthier environment.  Our all-of-the-above plan will increase American energy production in an environmentally-safe way, encourage the use of alternatives such as nuclear and clean-coal energy, and promote new technologies and efficiencies.  Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress and the Administration have chosen to go it alone with their costly, jobs-killing national energy tax scheme.  Middle-class families and small businesses struggling during this recession won’t support it.  It’s time for Democrats to work with Republicans on real solutions to create jobs and pave the way for a cleaner, more reliable energy future.”

At a time when the unemployment rate is in excess of 10 percent in many states, Democrats should be focused more on creating jobs here at home rather than spending, taxing, and borrowing at an unprecedented speed – all in an attempt to pass a national energy tax that will cost 2.5 million American jobs each year and will punish every American who dares to flip on a light switch or drives a car.