Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Sam Wechsler-Talk Radio News Service

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) voiced strong opposition Thursday to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) support of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill.

Boehner began a press conference Thursday asking, “Where are the jobs?”, complaining that three million jobs have already been lost this year and that new jobs are not coming from government spending but from small businesses. He then stated that the upcoming Waxman-Markey bill would force small businesses to pay more for high energy and cost 2.3 to 2.7 million Americans their jobs.

“Mark my words, the American people are going to remember this vote. This will be a defining moment and a defining vote in this Congress,” said Boehner.

The Minority Leader argued that the bill will not cause carbon dioxide emissions to decrease, but will instead result in an increase. Once the high energy sector jobs have been shipped overseas, the energy companies in India and China will import more American coal, Boehner explained. He added that since China and India do not have the technology America does, when the country burns the coal to produce energy they will create five times more carbon dioxide emissions than if the coal was burned in the U.S.

“[Waxman-Markey] is the most convoluted idea I’ve ever seen,” Boehner said.