By Timothy B. Hurst •
August 4, 2008
From Senator McCain blaming Barack Obama for high gas prices, to the House GOP’s recent (and ongoing) faux-libuster demanding an up-or-down vote on increasing domestic oil drilling, there’s no doubt that the Republican Party is pulling out all the stops to make oil the wedge issue in the upcoming election. But the Obama camp has begun a coordinated push-back and revealed the “New Energy Plan For America,” which Obama said would create 5 million new jobs and eliminate our need [...]
Six Democratic Senators joined together on Wednesday to announce a comprehensive energy bill that would tax windfall profits and “force” investment in renewable energy.
Among other things, the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008 would roll back tax breaks for oil companies and invest the money in renewable energy development and energy efficiency technology. It also would create a windfall profit tax on oil companies failing to invest in increased capacity and renewable energy resources.
According to one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind.-VT):
“The bottom line is that at a time when this country faces a major crisis in terms of the price of oil, when many working families in our state and all over this country are hurting, I think we have brought forth a comprehensive piece of legislation, which begins to attack that problem with the result of lowering the price of oil.”
