Key Vote “NO” on Energy Cloture Votes in the Senate

This week, the Senate is debating a series of crucial cloture votes on the future of U.S. energy policy. On behalf of the more than 850,000 Freedom Works members nationwide, I urge you to vote ‘NO’ on cloture for the Senate Finance Proposal, the Reid substitute, and S. 1419. This legislation would damage efforts to secure reliable and efficient energy sources by imposing a series of tax increases that penalize domestic production while diverting resources to more costly alternative fuel sources.

The Senate is proposing almost $30 billion in new taxes that consumers would end up paying at the pump. With fuel prices higher than ever, now is not the time to push policies that discourage domestic production and investment in new refinery capacity. Instead of seeking a more secure market for energy that includes domestic exploration, the Senate is pushing expensive and unproven renewable energy sources.

Taxpayers should not have to pay for an alternative fuels program and overreaching global warming proposals backed every time they fill up their tank. Solving our energy problem should come from increased exploration, efficiency and capacity dictated by open markets—not higher taxes and subsidies that allow the government to pick winners and losers in the marketplace.

This misguided legislation would signal a return to failed energy policies of the past and would put the U.S. economy at a competitive disadvantage by forcing jobs overseas. Please oppose all efforts to approve the Senate’s energy legislation and vote against all “cloture” votes. Your vote on these costly energy proposals will be used as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Scorecard for 2007. The FreedomWorks Economic Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the Jefferson Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe

President and CEO

FreedomWorks.org