House GOP Set to Unveil Energy Plan
House Republicans will release their alternative to the Democratic energy bill on Wednesday, the chairman of the GOP working group charged with crafting the legislation told reporters on Monday.
House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) declined to disclose any specifics about the bill on Monday but said it would include ideas that were not in the “all of the above— Republican energy proposal offered in the 110th Congress.
Pence chairs the 30-member American Energy Solutions Group established by Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) to craft the GOP energy plan.
He said the bill represented the “collaborative efforts— of his working group, Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and language from energy bills that have already been introduced by other members of the Conference.
Republicans have been heavily critical of the Democratic energy bill produced by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Subcommittee on Energy and Environment Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
Without the unusually high gas prices of last summer to fuel their argumentagainst a Democratic bill, Republicans have focused most of their attacks onthe carbon cap-and-trade provision, which they say would amount to a heavytax on energy.