Jay Inslee: “I had a constituent at a town hall meeting in Washington ask a very interesting question, I thought, about the…”

“I had a constituent at a town hall meeting in Washington ask a very interesting question, I thought, about the President's tax cut and energy bill which must be considered together. He asked this question: What earthly good is it to get some very modest tax cut, if every single dollar I get in a tax cut I have to turn around that month and give to an energy company in Texas? Every single dollar I get, I am going to give it to the energy industry which increases electrical bills and gas prices. He is right. What good is it? Mr. Speaker, what he asked me, if the Republicans want to do that, if they want to take absolutely no action about this energy crisis in the short term, nothing to help people in the short term with energy prices, what he asked me was why do they not just eliminate the middleman. Why not just give all of the tax cut to the energy industry and not have it go through us? I thought about that and thought it is clear. The Bush energy inaction plan, together with the Bush tax plan, is a giant money-laundering operation.”