Vol. X No. 26
August 5, 2005

Kill the Bill Vol. 1: The Energy Bill

Lately Presidential vetoes have been as scarce as the Ivory Billed-Woodpecker. Not since John Quincy Adams has a president served a full term without using a veto.

President George W. Bush has a perfect opportunity to break this streak. At the end of July, Congress passed a bloated $85 billion energy bill that is packed with subsidies and tax breaks to big energy companies making billion dollar profits. But even though this energy bill is more expensive than the one the President wanted, it appears that he is going lock the veto pen drawer for another day.

Taxpayers are crying, but industry is jumping for joy over the President’s hesitancy to use the V-Word. After the energy measure passed last Friday, energy lobbyists from all over Washington celebrated over filet mignon and wine at their favorite DC steakhouses. Alas, this bill gives hard-working American taxpayers nothing to celebrate: it won’t lower prices at the pump, won’t reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and won’t spur on the innovation that our country needs.

In the February budget request, the President asked for an energy bill with no more than $6.7 billion in tax breaks. This bill has nearly twice that – it’s got $14.6 billion in breaks and $3.1 billion in revenue raisers, for a total net cost of $11.5 billion. That’s too much money to be spending at a time of massive budget deficits – particularly for a bill that’s not going to solve any of America’s energy problems.

Sure, the President is busy, so we don’t expect him to read through all 1,724 pages of this energy monstrosity. But he might want to take a closer look at this bill before he signs it. Tucked away in the recesses of this energy bill is a cache of handouts to special interests, the kind of government giveaways that make taxpayers cringe. Some of the worst handouts include $550 million for the Denali Commission, an organization whose only purpose is to funnel federal funds into Alaska, $1.5 billion for a new ultra-deepwater slush fund, money that will go largely to the Texas Energy Center, and $250,000 for a study on “cold cracking” – an experimental way of refining petroleum by irradiating it. In July, the energy bill’s authors all but admitted at a committee meeting that they had never even heard of cold cracking before. But what the heck – they added it into the bill anyway.

We are startled by the President’s no-veto streak. When the President was governor of Texas, he vetoed 97 bills. Maybe he hasn’t wanted to use the veto with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, but that’s no way to govern.

America does need a comprehensive energy policy, now more than ever. But this bill falls well short of the mark. Instead of crafting an innovative energy blueprint for the next generation, the lawmakers who wrote this bill chose to reward their campaign contributors with huge government handouts at the taxpayer’s expense.

In his State of the Union address, the President pledged to cut the budget deficit in half over the next four years. But this energy bill undermines his pledge by adding billions of dollars in spending over the next decade. We share the President’s concern that budget deficits are a major roadblock to our nation’s economic growth, and we urge him to demonstrate a commitment to fiscal responsibility by sending this bill back to Congress with a veto.

The nation deserves an energy policy that is not powered by pork. We can do better than this package of government giveaways to mega-rich energy companies.

For more information, contact Keith Ashdown at (202)-546-8500 ext. 110 or keith@taxpayer.net