Veto threat on House energy bills
As a follow-up to last night’s note on the energy bills the House is considering today, here is the Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on these two bills.
The key sentence is:
Because H.R. 2776 and H.R. 3221 fail to deliver American consumers or businesses more energy security, but rather would lead to less domestic oil and gas production, higher energy costs, and higher taxes, the President’s senior advisors would recommend that he veto these bills.
I won’t repeat the point from last night, but will point out two other problems indicated in the SAP.
Since 2001, the Administration has directly invested over $12 billion in clean, safe advanced energy resources and supported billions more in tax incentives. The Administration, however, strongly opposes raising taxes in a way that will lead to higher energy costs to U.S. consumers and businesses. Repealing the manufacturing deduction for only the oil and gas industry is a targeted tax increase that puts U.S. industries at a disadvantage to their foreign competitors. Changes to the foreign tax credit rules related to foreign oil and gas extraction income and foreign oil-related income will also disadvantage U.S.-based companies by reducing their ability to compete for investments in foreign energy-related projects.
and
The Administration strongly opposes provisions in both bills that would expand the application of Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage requirements.