President Obama tried Tuesday night in his Oval Office speech to rally the nation behind his efforts to tackle the Gulf oil spill, but by also highlighting his energy agenda, he set off reaction on Capitol Hill that could risk turning the disaster into a political football.
Obama, trying to take control of a crisis that has slowly eroded support for his administration, pointed to the relief efforts already under way and said the government would hold BP responsible. But later in his 18-minute speech, he turned his focus to the need to "seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels."
"We can't afford not to change how we produce and use energy, because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater," Obama said in the first Oval Office address of his presidency.
The speech came 57 days after the April 20 explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers and sparked the crisis, in which millions of gallons of oil already have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. The speech also served as a prelude to Obama's meeting Wednesday with BP executives at the White House.
Republicans accused the president for using the oil spill to push his legislative agenda.
"Instead of leveraging this crisis to manufacture knee-jerk political support for cap-and-trade energy taxes, President Obama should focus on providing the people of the Gulf with real and honest solutions to this horrible environmental disaster that this administration has been slow in waking up to," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said in a written statement.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said Obama "is trying to exploit this disaster to pass his national energy tax."
"Stop exploiting this disaster to pass this cap-and-trade tax," he said.
The congressman was referring to the "cap-and-trade" legislation that Democrats have been trying to push through Congress since last year. After the House approved a version of the bill last June, the Senate has been sitting on the proposal while other issues like health care and financial regulation moved to the front of the legislative line.
But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., praised Obama's comments on his energy agenda.
"I firmly believe that a diverse energy strategy will help our nation reduce pollution, create millions of clean energy jobs that can never be out-sourced and lower our dependence on oil," Reid said in a written statement. President Obama presented a path to energy independence in his speech tonight that strengthens our economy and protects our environment."
In his speech, Obama called on all Americans to contribute to "a new future that will benefit all of us."
"As we recover from this recession, the transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of good, middle-class jobs, but only if we accelerate that transition," Obama said. "Only if we seize the moment. And only if we rally together and act as one nation -- workers and entrepreneurs; scientists and citizens; the public and private sectors."
Reid said he looks forward to passing a bipartisan energy bill this year.
"This legislation can only be passed if Republicans decide to work with us and demonstrate that they share our serious commitment to building a 21st century energy strategy for America," he said.
But Republicans were outraged that climate change legislation would be discussed in the same breath as the Gulf oil crisis.
"Never has a mission statement fit an administration as perfectly as Rahm Emanuel's 'never allow a crisis to go to waste.' Climate change policy is important, but first things first," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, describing the energy bill as a tax on everyone that would "do nothing" to stop the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Somehow he thinks he can use the tragedy in the Gulf as a reason to pass cap-and-trade," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. "There is no relationship between the oil spill and cap-and-trade."
The climate bill most likely to pass the Senate is one sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Kerry, D-Mass. They said on Tuesday that their bill will save energy and create jobs.
"It will create 440,000 additional jobs annually through 2020 and 540,000 additional jobs through 2030," Kerry said.
Lieberman said one analysis shows the plan would save 2 million barrels of oil a day by 2030 -- in part by getting heavy trucks to run on natural gas. He said that inaction at this point would lead to sustained dependence on oil and "risk repetition of what's happening in the Gulf today."
But critics are extremely skeptical about both claims. Previous assessments of cap-and-trade bills warned of job losses, and analysts say savings in oil are hard to come by:
"In automobiles, at least in the short run, next 10 years or so, it's very difficult to switch from one energy source to another," said David Kreutzer, research fellow for energy economics and climate change with the Heritage Foundation. He said the climate legislation and its mandate to cut emissions would end up hurting the country's coal industry "dramatically."
source: http://www.foxnews.com/
