White House Politics Versus The American People

Kyle Isakower
Posted October 8, 2015

These things are true:

• The U.S. gets the majority of its energy from oil and natural gas, and is projected to continue to do so for decades.
• Since 2005 U.S. production of natural gas is up 43 percent.
• Since 2008 U.S. production of crude oil is up 88 percent.
• U.S. air quality continues to improve, with concentrations of carbon monoxide down 60 percent, ozone down 18 percent, lead 87 percent, nitrogen dioxide 43 percent, particulate matter 35 percent and sulfur dioxide 62 percent since 2000.
• The federal U.S. budget deficit for FY2015 was $435 billion.
• The U.S. trade deficit rose in August as exports hit a three-year low.
• Since 2008 our working age population has grown by over 16 million, while employment is up 8.5 million, leaving the U.S. at odds with trends in other countries.
• U.S. poverty and wages are stagnant, and it is getting harder for people to move beyond a minimum-wage job.
• Americans' trust in the federal government's ability to handle domestic problems has reached a new low.

These things are true, and thus, when presented with bipartisan legislation to reduce consumer fuel costs and the trade deficit while increasing U.S. investment, domestic crude oil production, GDP and government revenues and creating good paying jobs – all via U.S. crude oil exports – the White House obviously had no choice but to … threaten to veto it.

Seriously.  Let’s unpack the administration’s thinking:

Legislation to remove crude export restrictions is not needed at this time.

CNBC – Oil rises after Obama says no to crude exports

More from the administration:

Rather, Congress should be focusing its efforts on supporting our transition to a low-carbon economy.

Perhaps be supportive of oil and natural gas companies?  I mean, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, of the 1.6 billion metric tons in CO2 emissions saved in power generation since 2005, 1 billion metric tons are assigned to natural gas use. The administration:

It could do this through a variety of measures, including ending the billions of dollars a year in Federal subsidies provided to oil companies

A lie repeated does not become true, and boy, the White House has been peddling this one for a while. We’ll let the Washington Post handle this one:

“… the government has allowed only tax deductions to help oil companies recover the cost of doing business — this is standard in virtually all industries. No money from the U.S. Treasury goes to the oil industry …”

Back to the administration:

and instead investing in wind, solar, energy efficiency, and other clean technologies to meet America's energy needs.

America’s oil and natural gas companies are leaders in investing in greenhouse gas mitigation technologies, investing nearly as much as all other U.S.-based industries from 2000 to 2014; all while meeting America’s energy needs. And guess what? No government investment needed. All government has to do is get out of the way.  It is time for our government to move beyond political squabbling and work for the American people, and let the American people get to work.