Rep. McCotter condemns Gang of 10’s energy plan

Members of the bipartisan Senate “Gang of 10” should embrace energy legislation introduced by House Republicans or face opposition from House GOP for a “fatally flawed” proposal, a member of House leadership wrote in a letter to the Senate group on Tuesday.

In his latest missive, Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) said House Republicans would oppose the New Energy Reform Act in its current form and criticized the bill as too narrow an approach that will raise prices on consumers. Senators offered the compromise earlier this month in hopes it would end the partisan stalemate and allow both chambers to move forward on comprehensive energy reform.

“Regrettably, their ‘some of the above’ proposal would perpetuate a governmentally imposed ban on energy exploration — one long made obsolete by soaring energy prices — and, thereby, continue a governmentally imposed shortage of American energy, particularly oil and gas,” McCotter wrote in a memo to House colleagues. “Thus, the proposal will not increase energy supplies sufficiently enough to provide economically suffering Americans critical, comprehensive relief from high gasoline and natural gas prices.”

In his letter to the senators, McCotter said that while there were “numerous policy reasons for our position” against the bill, there were two provisions that stood out as especially repellant: the governmentally imposed ban on  drilling in certain areas and increased revenues on new oil leases, which McCotter calls a “tax increase.”

The Senate Gang of 10 includes Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).

Landrieu spokesman Stephanie Allen said the Senate Gang of 10 plan is more pragmatic than McCotter’s suggestions.

“There are lots of proposals out there, but what is unique about the Gang of 10 plan is that it could actually pass the Senate,” Allen said.

Jake Thompson, a spokesman for Nelson, said Nelson is open to modifications: “Sen. Nelson believes one of the plan’s strengths is its balance, in that it provides very limited, targeted, new oil and gas exploration, while making new investments in renewable energy and fuel efficiency for vehicles and development of alternative fuels.”
 
J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this article.