With no legislative text or details, Democrats and 5 misguided Republicans lay a path for a vote on carbon tariffs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 19, 2021) – Today, the American Energy Alliance (AEA), the country’s premier pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, and free-market energy organization, voiced opposition to efforts by the White House, Democratic leaders, and a handful of Republican senators, to advance a $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure that is also linked to a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package. Procedural votes on the $1.2 trillion package could begin as early as today despite the fact that nobody has seen any language. Allegedly, the companion reconciliation package contains a massive new energy tax in the form of a carbon tariff and a federal renewable energy mandate.
The American Energy Alliance opposes the so-called “bipartisan infrastructure framework” and will score against the procedural motion and subsequent votes on it and other related measures.
AEA President Thomas Pyle issued the following statement:
“The so-called ‘bipartisan infrastructure package’ is a wasteful and unnecessary exercise that will make the nation $1.2 trillion poorer. Consequently, AEA opposes and will score votes with respect to this legislation and the linked budget reconciliation package, which reportedly contains massive new taxes on energy along with a pointless, yet costly national renewable electricity mandate.
“Perhaps most ridiculous part of the measure being considered is the $15 billion in subsidies for electric vehicles and charging facilities, but the package also includes tens of billions of dollars of wasted funding on passenger rail and mass transit.
“Proponents also seek to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing an electricity transmission build-out. We already have a grid that is robust and well-suited for reliable, baseload electricity generation. What the grid struggles to handle is the wild swings of generation from unreliable renewables like wind and solar. These sources are at the heart of the grid issues we have seen recently in California and Texas.
“The only reason there is any need at all to build long-distance transmission is because of federal and state subsidies and mandates forcing unreliable wind and solar into the electricity system. We should end these taxpayer giveaways immediately, not pile on even more of them.
“On top of all this unneeded spending, the infrastructure bill does nothing to address the biggest problems we have building infrastructure in this country — the permitting and regulatory processes that slow projects to a crawl and make American infrastructure projects far more expensive than in other countries.
“Finally, make no mistake: passing the infrastructure package makes the subsequent and far worse reconciliation package more likely to succeed. The Senate should not go along with this farce. The votes cannot be separated as a practical matter; a vote for the infrastructure package is as good as a vote for the reconciliation package, and all the energy taxes and inflation that come with it.”
Additional Resources:
- AEA to Senate Republicans: Don’t Collude In Raising Energy Prices
- Biden’s Ever Reaching and Expensive Infrastructure Plan
- Biden’s Infrastructure Bill: Green Handouts for the Politically Connected
- Biden Plans to Import Critical Minerals Needed for Forced Energy Transition
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