For immediate release.
Contact: Valerie Caras
PA GOP Launches “Obama-Casey Miserable Madness”
First region highlights the Obama-Casey failed energy agenda
HARRISBURG, PA –Today, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania announced the launch of “Obama-Casey Miserable Madness,” a March Madness-themed bracket containing 16 of the worst policies promoted by President Obama and Senator Casey and the alternatives as promoted by endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Welch. Click here to see the bracket.
The bracket contains four “regions,” each built around four important themes where the Obama-Casey agenda has done the most harm to our economic recovery and intruded the most on our daily lives.
Today, the PA GOP unveiled the first regional bracket, “Failed on Energy,” containing four policies where the Obama-Casey energy agenda has failed Pennsylvanians.
Solyndra
Solyndra, the politically-connected energy company served as the Obama Administration’s poster-child for President Obama and Senator Casey’s nearly trillion dollar failed stimulus. Solyndra received a $535 million taxpayer funded loan in 2009 and is now bankrupt and a part of a criminal investigation.
Solyndra’s downfall puts a spotlight on the kind of taxpayer-funded cronyism this White House said it would eliminate. After bundling tens of thousands of dollars for President Obama and his campaign, Solyndra officials were granted at least 20 visits to the White House and had Energy Department officials sitting in on company board meetings
Solyndra also serves as a reminder of the President’s and Senator Casey’s “hodgepodge” leadership on renewable energy research and development.
The Welch Way: Energy for Pennsylvania, Watch the Press Conference
Further Reading:
- • Fact Check: Obama’s Solyndra Problem
- • Chicago Tribune: Obama’s energy crisis
- • CNET: Obama touts alternative energy despite Solyndra’s demise
- • National Review: Reince Priebus: White House Needs to Come Clean on Solyndra
- • Bloomberg: Obama Aides Knew Solyndra Planned 2010 Layoffs, E-Mails Show
- • Washington Post: Solyndra: Politics infused Obama energy programs
- • RNC Research: Solyndra By The Numbers
- • San Francisco Examiner: Solyndra bankruptcy shows stimulus failure
- • PA GOP: President Obama Needs To Start Talking About Solyndra
National Energy Tax
While Americans struggle with the skyrocketing costs of energy, Senator Casey and the Joint Economic Committee sought to increase taxes on energy companies. President Obama loved the idea, and in his 2012-2013 budget, joined Bob Casey in proposing over $90 billion in tax hikes on energy companies to cover his addiction to massive spending. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service reported that these tax hikes “Would Make Oil And Natural Gas More Expensive,” while Democrats admitted “It Would Cost Thousands Of Jobs.”
The Welch Way: Energy for Pennsylvania
Further Reading:
- • PoliticsPA: Bob Casey and Gas Politics
- • Institute for Energy Research: Why Raising Taxes on the Oil and Gas Industry Doesn’t Make Sense
- • Americans for Tax Reform: Obama Proposes Nearly $90 Billion in Tax Hikes on Energy Producers
- • Congressional Research Service: Oil and Natural Gas Industry Tax Issues in the FY2012 Budget Proposal: “CRS: Tax changes outlined in the President’s budget proposal “would make oil and natural gas more expensive for U.S. consumers and likely increase foreign dependence.”
- • Houston Chronicle: Eight Democratic senators propose oil windfall tax: “A group of eight freshman Democratic senators have introduced legislation that would impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies and revoke some government subsidies. The legislation, proposed by Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., would impose a 50 percent tax on profits after oil prices rise above $50 a barrel.”
- • Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA): “Taxing this domestic industry will instead cut jobs and increase our dependency on foreign oil. So I want you to deliver that message again to the Administration. We have bipartisan opposition to increasing taxes on this industry.”
- • Senator Mark Begich (D-AK): The president’s call for eliminating incentives for oil and gas production is a non-starter and could hurt Alaska’s energy industry.”
Ban on Offshore Drilling
Despite rising gas prices and turmoil in the Middle East, President Obama and Senator Casey have actively blocked access to American offshore energy resources.
Before President Obama took office, nearly 100% of the U.S.’s offshore areas were open to American energy production. However, President Obama imposed a moratorium on offshore drilling, bringing domestic energy exploration and production to a screeching halt. To fight President Obama’s disastrous agenda, House Republicans passed HR 1231, “Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act.” However, the legislation has been blocked by Senator Bob Casey and Senate Democrats.
Nonetheless, after mounting pressure President Obama caved and drafted a five-year plan, allowing a small amount of production to continue in the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Arctic. The problem is that his proposal that what the President calls “expansion” of offshore drilling is actually a moratorium on domestic energy production. Thanks to President Obama’s, only 2.16% of America’s drillable areas are open to energy exploration.
The Welch Way: Energy for Pennsylvania, Watch the Press Conference
Further Reading:
- • National Journal: Gas Prices Pose Problems for Obama
- • New York Times: Obama Oil Drilling Plan Draws Critics
- • Houston Chronicle: Faulty dilemma: The U.S. needs more offshore drilling and an Apollo-scale program to develop alternative energy sources
- • Fredericksburg Free Lance Star: Virginia left out of offshore drilling
- • Washington Free Beacon: Landrieu Criticizes Obama Administration on Offshore Drilling
- • House Natural Resources Committee: 5 Energy Questions for President Obama
- • Washington Post: Obama administration reimposes offshore oil drilling ban
FRAC Act
The Marcellus Shale natural gas industry has been a huge engine of economic growth in Pennsylvania, and has played a significant role in keeping our Commonwealth’s unemployment rate below President Obama’s national average by creating tens of thousands of jobs for Pennsylvania residents. Governor Tom Corbett has been a strong proponent of encouraging the growth in this industry while responsibly ensuring that local communities that feel drilling impacts are protected.
Instead of partnering with Governor Corbett to encourage the responsible growth of a job-creating industry, Senator Bob Casey has taken an extremely liberal stance on the issue by sponsoring his anti-jobs “FRAC Act” legislation that would essentially gut oil and gas drilling in Pennsylvania. Instead of giving Pennsylvanians the right to manage and protect their own land and natural resources, Senator Casey would rather hand oversight of Pennsylvania’s drilling industry to the EPA and the federal government.
The Welch Way: Energy for Pennsylvania, Watch the Press Conference
Further reading:
- • Marcellus Drilling News: PA Sen. Bob Casey Re-introduces Bill Transferring Control of Marcellus Drilling to the Federal Government
- • Patriot News: Marcellus Shale industry brings ‘tsunami of jobs’ to Pa.
- • Central Penn Business Journal: Marcellus Shale catalyzing job growth, study finds
- • Patriot News: Marcellus Shale drilling creates 48,000 jobs, report says
- • Albany Times Union: Economy benefits from fracking
- • Financial Times: Science affirms the safety of ‘fracking’
- • Energy in Depth: History of Hydraulic Fracturing
- • Bloomberg: Shale Gas $100 Billion Savings to U.S. Exceed Tax Cuts: Energy
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