On the recordMay 17, 2011
I could go on and on about the economic impact on job creation in my State and across America. But if, in fact, our colleagues are interested in tax reform, if they really are concerned that the Tax Code is unfair and some people do not pay enough and others pay too much, I ask them to consider the fact that according to the Congressional Research Service, 77.9 percent of our primary energy production in America is fossil fuel sources, and of the Federal tax support targeted to energy in 2009, 12.6 percent went to fossil fuels--12.6 percent of those Federal tax supports went to people who produce oil and gas. Conversely, 10.6 percent, the Congressional Research Service tells us, of primary source energy was produced using renewable sources. Yet the Federal tax support targeted to renewable sources of energy was 77.4 percent. Why are we picking on American oil and gas production, forcing us-- actually hurting job creation at a time when unemployment is unacceptably high--forcing us to rely on imported energy and actually rewarding our foreign competitors who will not have to pay these higher prices, and when, in fact, even as our friends across the aisle acknowledge, at the very best this will not bring down the prices at the pump. They say that is not the point. If that is not the point, then the point appears to be a game of gotcha and a sort of finger-pointing and class warfare we have seen that is endemic inside the beltway.…
Source
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