Business Community Opposes Current Energy Bill

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce took out a full page ad in The Washington Post today opposing the energy bill pending in Congress. NAM and the Chamber believe the legislation will "raise costs, put Americans out of work and limit the nation's access to domestic energy supplies." Their opposition is to tax hike and gasoline price control provisions. They believe these provisions will, "raise energy costs for American consumers, manufacturere and businesses, hurting economic growth and driving high-paying American jobs overseas." They also believe the bill will increase our reliance on foreign sources of energy.

AAEA supports the energy bill but opposes provisions that will lead to high energy prices. AAEA supports policies that promote abundant supplies of energy at reasonable prices. Interestingly the House and Senate energy bills have wildly different provisions that will have to be ironed out in conference committee: 1) The Senate raised average vehicle fuel efficiency to 35 miles a gallonwhile the House prevented it from reaching the floor. 2) The House voted for a renewable-energy standard for utilities while the Senate did not. 3) The Senate voted to raise the minimum level of ethanol consumption nationwide while a House version never came to a vote. 4) The House voted to increase royalty and tax payments for oil companies and give tax incentives for renewable resources and energy efficiencywhile the Senate didn't adopt any tax package. And the White House is opposed to most of the energy bill provisions. (Wash Post)