PRESS RELEASE from DNC

For Immediate Release
Thursday, March 29, 2012
 
Contact: DNC Press
 
DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse Hold a Press Call Pushing Back on The American Energy Alliance’s Mischaracterizations of President Obama’s Energy Policy and to Highlight Mitt Romney Being in the Tank for Big Oil
 
Watch New DNC Video “Remember”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAIe3LXIjds&feature=youtu.be
 
  
Washington, DC – Today, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse held a press conference call pushing back on the American Energy Alliance’s (AEA) mischaracterizations of President Obama’s energy policy and highlighting Mitt Romney being in the tank for big oil.
 
The AEA is up with an ad in eight states (MI, VA, FL, OH, IA, NV, CO, NM) attacking the President’s clean energy agenda.  The AEA is funded by big oil and the Koch Brothers and lacks a drop of credibility in attacking the President’s clean energy agenda.  Their goal is to protect big oil companies at all costs – including billions in taxpayer funded subsidies for oil companies - and they have opposed increased fuel efficiency standards and tax credits for other energy sources. 
 
The DNC continues to highlight the contrast between President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy that reduces our reliance on foreign oil so we save money at the pump and Mitt Romney and the rest of the GOP’s shameless pandering to Big Oil. The Republicans’ rhetoric on energy is dishonest and misleading. The truth is that under President Obama, domestic oil and natural gas production have gone up every year. Last year, oil production reached an 8-year high, and natural gas production reached an all-time high. Our dependence on foreign oil is at a 16-year low, and President Obama’s historic new fuel economy standards will save consumers about $8,000 at the pump during the life of their vehicle.
 
On the call, Wasserman Schultz announced the release of a web video, entitled “Remember,” in response to the AEA ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAIe3LXIjds&feature=youtu.be.
 
 
Listen to today’s full press call here:
http://my.democrats.org/page/-/audio/calls/Energy130pmConfCall032912.mp3
 
 
See below for remarks as prepared for delivery:
 
Brad Woodhouse
Thanks everyone for joining the call today. Republicans like Mitt Romney and those in the Senate today who led the opposition to repealing billions of dollars in taxpayer funded subsidies for profit rich oil companies have been spouting one lie after another about the President’s energy policies.
 
As if that’s not enough, now they have millions of dollars being poured into negative and false attack ads by an organization whose sole purpose is to increase oil industry profits. – It’s the drill baby drill of energy advocacy groups. 
 
This group, the American Energy Alliance – is up with an ad in eight states attacking the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy. The ads are running in Colorado, Michigan, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico.
 
The American Energy Alliance lacks a drop of credibility in attacking the President’s clean energy agenda because the agenda of the AEA is so transparently self-serving: Their only goal is to protect and expand the profits of big oil companies and to oppose increased fuel efficiency standards and investments in alternative sources of energy.
 
This is not an organization trying to have an honest conversation about American energy policy. It’s a front group for big oil companies whose profits have soared on the backs of Americans who spend more of their hard earned paychecks at the pump.
 
While this front group fights for its big oil masters, President Obama continues to support an all-of-the-above energy strategy that has helped reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil to a 16 year low.
 
That contrast is crucial to understanding why the President continues to push so hard for expanding all facets of the American energy sector. Last year, for the first time since 1949, America was a net fuel exporter and a leading investor in the energy technologies of tomorrow.
 
And the simple fact is the American Energy Alliance – Big Oil– don’t like that. They’d prefer to keep things just the way they are. When you’re raking in billions hand over fist, you could care really care less how much a gallon of gas is costing a middle class family.
 
I’m going to turn the call over now to our Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who will go into more detail on how the AEA’s attacks just don’t square with the facts on President Obama’s record.
 
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
 
Thank you, Brad.
 
It looks like Big Oil, Mitt Romney and their allies in the Republican Party have rounded up the usual suspects for an assault on the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy in an attempt to mislead voters on President Obama’s record of accomplishment on decreasing our dependence on foreign oil and increasing our energy options here at home.
 
The American Energy Alliance is a front group for Big Oil, plain and simple. It is an offshoot of the Institute for Energy Research, which is funded by the Koch brothers and other Big Oil companies. The President of the American Energy Alliance is a former Koch Lobbyist.
 
There is no daylight between the Koch Brothers and the American Energy Alliance, only millions of dollars in Big Oil cash.
 
The sole reason for the American Energy Alliance’s existence is to protect Big Oil Companies at the expense of the American taxpayer. These are companies who take in billions of dollars in profit every year from American consumers at the pump and then they turn around and take billions in taxpayer subsidies. This is not a credible organization on American energy policy.
 
The AEA has come out against Sen. Robert Menendez’s measure to remove these tax giveaways that benefit some of the most profitable corporations on the face of the earth.  The AEA has opposed the new fuel efficiency standards the Obama Administration negotiated with car companies – fuel efficiency standards that will save consumers $8,000 dollars per vehicle by 2025.
 
This is an organization that has a laser-like focus on protecting the bottom lines of billionaires and ensuring Americans continue to pay more of their paychecks at the pump.
 
Just look at their hypocritical stance on subsidies for other energy sources. Their position is “subsidies for me, but not for thee.” If the United States is to achieve energy independence, we must invest in the energy of tomorrow and that’s exactly what President Obama has been doing.
 
Electricity production from renewable sources increased by 36 percent between 2008 and 2011
Net electricity generation from wind and solar has more than doubled between 2008 and 2011.
The Obama Administration has approved 29 major renewable energy projects on public lands that are projected to produce enough energy to power 1.3 million American homes.
 
The AEA is also distorting the President’s record on domestic energy production. Under President Obama, we are relying less on foreign oil and domestic crude production is at an 8 year high. Domestic crude and natural gas production has increased every year President Obama has been in office. The number of oil and gas rigs in operation has increased nearly 30 percent and the number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States has quadrupled.
 
President Obama will continue to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy that benefits consumers and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. Today’s GOP and their allies may be more than happy to place Big Oil profits ahead of people, but that’s not the energy policy the American people want and that’s not the energy policy President Obama has pursued.
 
President Obama will continue to stand up for hardworking families. Republicans can embrace the President’s all-of-the-above energy policy or continue marching in lock step as they shamelessly pander to their Big Oil donors who benefit from taxpayer subsidies.
 
When these attacks come from shadowy groups funded by Big Oil, we’re going to respond to set the record straight. We will host press calls like this one to make sure the truth the about the President’s record is getting out to voters, we’ll deploy truth teams, hold local events and use social media and traditional media sources to get the word out.
 
Today, as part of our response, we are also releasing a video today titled “Remember” that points out that not only that these groups distorting the President’s record but they are also doing in support Mitt Romney who has paid their support back by pledging to protect the billions in tax breaks big oil receives and that all but one Republican in the Senate voted to protect today.
 
But make no mistake – this response is no match for the limitless resources of big oil and other wealthy interests who want to go back to the way we were doing things before President Obama took office – where big industry made their own rules and they called all the shots.  Our web videos and conference calls are an unequal match to the millions in special interest funded spending which has been unleashed by the citizens united decision.
 
That said – we’re going to hit back as hard as we can which is why we are so glad you joined us today. 
 
Thank you.