The White House blamed “misinformation” for a tough battle over energy and climate change legislation, urging lawmakers to embrace the future by supporting the bill.
“I know this is going to be a close vote, in part because of the misinformation that’s out there that suggests there’s somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and our economic growth,” President Barack Obama said.
The past few days have seen a final-hour push by the White House to gather support for the bill. With a House vote set for Friday, the administration quickly added an energy event — remarks in the Rose Garden — to Obama’s schedule.
Energy in recent weeks has been largely eclipsed by the administration’s public focus on unemployment, health care reform and Iran. The president was stepping up his lobbying in what could be a crucial test of his political power.
“There’s no disagreement over whether our dependence on foreign oil is endangering our security,” Obama said. “We know it is.”
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs elaborated on Obama’s misinformation claims, saying critics are falsely stating the bill will sacrifice jobs and are using “inaccurate information or made-up numbers” on the bill’s cost.
The White House previously has come under fire for its own unsupported claims about the jobs created by the stimulus bill.
The bill is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating new jobs in alternative energy sectors. The bill would include a cap-and-trade program to reduce air emissions.
Obama, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and members of the administration’s energy and lobbying teams were making calls Thursday in a final drive for votes on the bill, a onetime Obama campaign priority.
The Republican Party, meanwhile, urged members to call on their representatives to defeat the bill, calling the cap-and-trade provision “a huge national energy tax.”
“Speaker Pelosi is trying to sneak it under the wire as Congress is leaving town because it’s a disastrous bill for hardworking Americans,” said Phil Kerpen, policy director of Americans for Prosperity. “Congressmen who put green political correctness and making Al Gore rich over saving jobs and keeping energy affordable will face angry voters next November.”
The bill amounted to a falling out of sorts between Obama and billionaire Warren Buffett.
The prominent investor, who endorsed Obama for president, supported the stimulus bill and recently called for a second round of spending. But Buffett said in a recent interview that the energy bill was essentially an energy tax, because industry would pass higher costs on to consumers.
