Boehner: EPA plan ‘nuts’

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called the Environmental Protection Agency’s Monday carbon emissions proposal for power plants crazy, saying it would result in more jobs being shipped overseas.

“The president’s plan is nuts, there’s really no more succinct way to describe it,” Boehner said in a statement. “Americans are already paying more for everything, and here he is condemning them to higher bills and lower incomes long after he leaves office.

“In many ways, this national energy tax is actually worse than the scheme Americans rejected four years ago,” he said, referring to a cap-and-trade proposal that Congress did not pass.

In anticipation of the proposal, Boehner last week said he’s “not qualified to debate the science over climate change.”

He added that “every proposal that has come out of this administration to deal with climate change involves hurting our economy and killing American jobs. That can’t be the prescription for dealing with changes to our climate.”

The House passed a bill in March that would block rules such as the one unveiled Monday. In addition, Reps. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) said they will introduce legislation specifically to block the new power plant rule.