There is no better symbol for the big-government excess of the Bush-era Republican Party than the 2005 highway transportation bill. Clocking in at 1,752 pages, the $286.4 billion piece of legislation wasn’t even made public until just hours before it was brought to a vote.
Despite being the then-most expensive domestic infrastructure plan in U.S. history, the bill sailed through both chambers of Congress (412-8 in the House, 91-4 in the Senate) thanks in large part to the 6,376 earmarks tucked inside. Alaska’s $200 million Bridge to Nowhere was just one of those projects.
Fast-forward to 2012 and Congress is again considering another massive transportation spending plan. Despite winning control of the House in 2010 on the strength of its Tea Party base, the House Republican leadership is now trying to pass a $260 billion highway bill that includes a $50 billion bailout for the Highway Trust Fund.
So far, however, many of the Tea Party-aligned conservative Republicans have held out strongly against the bill. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has been unable to find the votes for final passage.
But the deadline for reauthorizing all federal highway spending is rapidly approaching. If no bill is passed by March 31, then the federal government cannot legally collect the national fuel tax and states will miss out on the transportation money funded by the levy.
The Washington Post warns that “chaos” will ensue if nothing gets done. Bending to this pressure last Tuesday, Boehner said that he would be willing to pass the Senate’s two-year, $109 billion transportation bill instead.
This was music to Washington lobbyist ears. After the Senate highway bill was identified as a “must-pass” piece of legislation, every special interest in town scrambled to get their corporate handout tacked on to the bill. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was more than happy to oblige.
Within hours of Boehner’s remarks, Reid announced he would be adding the Nat Gas Act as an amendment to the highway bill. The Nat Gas Act would provide a slew of tax credits to buyers of trucks to be converted to use natural gas for fuel, manufacturers of natural gas vehicles, buyers of natural gas, and service stations that install natural gas equipment. The bill is nothing more than a $25 billion giveaway to the natural gas industry.
And who would benefit from this government handout? Billionaires T. Boone Pickens and George Soros, as well as Democrat megadonor Kevin Douglas, among many others stand to make millions from this corporate welfare program.
If Republicans allow Reid’s Nat Gas Act to become law, it would be a huge betrayal of their Tea Party base. Just last Tuesday, incumbent Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, lost her primary to a Tea Party Republican who attacked her vote in favor of raising the debt limit.
Republican incumbents who don’t want to become the next Jean Schmidt should be ready to defend a vote for the Nat Gas Act to constituents back home.
The better approach to energy policy is exemplified by the approach embodied in the Energy Freedom and Prosperity Act sponsored by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.
The EFAPA repeals all energy specific tax credits. That’s right, all of them. Enhanced oil recovery credit? Gone. Advanced nuclear power generation credit? Gone. Tax credit for electricity produced from renewable sources? Gone.
There are two reasons DeMint’s EFAPA is the superior approach to energy policy. First, the federal government doesn’t know what the energy of the future will be, so it shouldn’t waste money on projects that aren’t profitable without government subsidies.
Second, it is impossible for the government to subsidize energy without enriching corporations and billionaires at the taxpayers’ expense. President Obama calls this “investing in clean energy.” It’s really just crony capitalism.
The Republican Party has come along way since 2005. The leaders it sent to Congress in 2011 are far more committed to liberty and free markets than those who were in charge seven years ago. Allowing the Nat Gas Act to become law would be a huge step backward.
Conn Carroll is a senior editorial writer for The Washington Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
