Saturday, October 20, 2007

President Bush Threatens Veto On Energy Bill

President Bush is promoting a "Twenty in Ten" energy legislative package that would reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent in ten years. The legislation was not adopted by Congress. The administration has subsequently offered a basic framework for an energy bill that would not compel the President's senior advisors to recommend a veto. Such a bill would:

1) Contain an ambitious alternative fuels standard comparable to that proposed by the President in his 2007 State of the Union.
2) Reform and strengthen the fuel economy standard for cars, and maintain separate, attribute-based standards for cars and light trucks, based on sound science, safety, and cost-benefit analysis.
3) Not reduce but instead increase domestic energy production.
4) Not raise taxes nor use the tax code to single out specific industries.
5) Not contain provisions (such as NOPEC) that encourage retaliation against American businesses abroad, discourage job-creating investment in the U.S. economy, and injure U.S. relations with other countries.
6) Not impose price controls that could bring back long gas station lines reminiscent of the 1970s.
7) Not expand the application of the Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage requirements.
8) Not contain a Renewable Portfolio Standard.

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