“Hope” Won’t Fill the Tank as Gas Prices “Necessarily Skyrocket”

As GOP Works to Expand American-Made Energy, Dems Plot To Push Gas Prices Even Higher and Impose New Tax on Driving

While House Republicans yesterday passed a plan to increase domestic energy production to offset rising gas prices, House Democrats continued their refusal to support increasing American-made energy:

NATIONAL GAS PRICE AVERAGE: $3.99/GALLON. (“Daily Fuel Gauge Report,” AAA, Accessed 5/5/2011)

147 DEMS VOTE AGAINST GOP EFFORT TO EXPAND AMERICAN-MADE ENERGY: Final Roll Call Vote: 266-149. (Roll Call 298, Clerk of the U.S. House, 5/5/2011)

House Democrats can thank Obama for leading by example with his administration’s efforts to commit America to a future of high energy prices. Reports yesterday morning indicated that Obama’s Department of Transportation is circulating a plan to impose a new driving tax that would be pegged to car mileage:
“OBAMA FLOATS PLAN TO TAX CARS BY THE MILE”, THEN BACKS AWAY:“The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.

“The plan is a part of the administration’s ‘Transportation Opportunities Act,’ an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.

“The White House, however, said the bill is only an early draft that was not formally circulated within the administration. …

“News of the draft follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven. …

“The CBO report was requested by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who has proposed taxing cars by the mile as a way to increase federal highway revenues.” (Peter Kasperowicz, “Obama Floats Plan to Tax Cars By the Mile,” The Hill, 5/5/2011)

Shocking though such a proposal might seem amidst record gas prices, it is just another chapter in a long string of behavior. As Obama admitted quite frankly during the 2008 campaign, higher energy prices were always part of his plan:

OBAMA IN 2008: “UNDER MY PLAN…ENERGY RATES WILL NECESSARILY SKYROCKET.” “When I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, you know,under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.” (Remarks from then-Sen. Barack Obama, San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 2008)

OBAMA: HIGH GAS PRICES NOT A PROBLEM IF “GRADUAL ADJUSTMENT”:“I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing. But if we take some steps right now to help people make the adjustment, first of all by putting more money into their pockets, but also by encouraging the market to adapt to these new circumstances more quickly, particularly US automakers, then I think ultimately, we can come out of this stronger and have a more efficient energy policy than we do right now.” (Jim Geraghty, “Obama: On Gas Prices, ‘I would Have Preferred a Gradual Adjustment,'” National Review, 6/11/2008)

ENERGY SECRETARY STEPHEN CHU: “WE HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO BOOST THE PRICE OF GASOLINE”: “In a sign of one major internal difference, Mr. Chu has called for gradually ramping up gasoline taxes over 15 years to coax consumers into buying more-efficient cars and living in neighborhoods closer to work.

“‘Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,’ Mr. Chu, who directs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September.” (Neil King Jr. and Stephen Power, “Times Tough for Energy Overhaul,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/12/2008)

Despite recent protests to the contrary, Obama has done very little during his administration to suggest that his views have evolved away from his previous advocacy for higher energy prices.

In addition to the new driving tax his administration is floating, Obama has spent the last several months dragging its feet on the issuance of new permits for oil exploration. Instead of continuing to feign outrage at gas prices, when will Democrats finally come clean on their agenda of permanently high energy prices?:

NUMBER OF PERMITS ISSUED BY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THIS YEAR “PALE[S] IN COMPARISON” TO PREVIOUS YEARS: “But the 10 new wells that have received permits from the newly created U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management so far this year pale in comparison to the rate of permitting in prior years, according to a Reuters analysis of permits. The pace of government-issued permits so far in 2011 is about a third the rate for the same period in each of the previous five years, 40 versus an average of 119 in 2006 through 2010.” (Kristen Hays and Bruce Nichols, “Analysis: After BP spill, U.S. drill permits slow to a trickle,” Reuters, 4/18/2011)

REUTERS: “OBAMA VOWS RELIEF ON GAS PRICES,” BUT “STOPS SHORT OF OFFERING REMEDIES”: “But Obama stopped short of offering remedies beyond those he has already proposed and which analysts see as unlikely to alter the situation soon.” (Matt Spetalnick, “Obama Vows Relief on Gas Prices,” Reuters, 5/2/2011)