Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) has been re-elected as the House GOP leader.
This is the same John Boehner who ridiculed Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s bike commuter tax when it was included as part of an Energy Bill back in December of 2007.
After suggesting that Blumenauer recuse himself from voting on the bill (because he rides to work), Boehner said, “This is not going to solve America’s energy problem.”
Here’s the audio (recorded from statements he made on the House floor on 12/05/07):
[audio:boehnerEnergyBill.mp3]
So what does Representative Boner propose to solve America’s energy problem?
The GOP is determined to render themselves completely irrelevant to anyone who isn’t a gun nut, pro lifer or gay hater.
I’ll admit it. Getting to take $20 tax free out of my check every month is not going to save us from our economical or environmental problems. If you take the maximum, that works out to a tax cut of what, less than fifty dollars per year? We need something much more substantial to solve these problems.
America doesn’t have an energy problem, it has an energy predicament. Problems can be solved, predicaments cannot – they can only be dealt with, through adaptation.
We are using more energy than we can produce through renewable means, and we’re using it mostly through a non-replenishable source of fossil fuels. That source takes hundreds of millions of years to rebuild, so for all practical purposes, when it’s gone, it’s gone.
Since 82% of our oil use is for transportation, and more than half our transportation use is the personal automobile, substituing a bike for a car whenever practical is a very effective way to deal with America’s energy predicament.
The sooner House members like the honorable Representative Boehner recognize this fact, the better for all of us.
Anon, your math skillz are indeed mad. $20 a month times 12 months in a year is $240. Boehner has his head in the sand about energy issues, current decline in oil and gasoline prices are demand driven as things aren’t getting made, people aren’t driving, and things that aren’t being made don’t have to be transported. We are in the first deflationary period in more than 60 years as the Bush depression takes hold.
yes but taxes on 240 not counted as income would have been somewhere between thirty-six and fifty something, depending on your marginal rate bracket