Boehner Responds to the President’s Remarks on Climate Change

GOP Leader: “Middle-class families and small businesses are struggling, and they shouldn’t be punished with costly legislation that will increase electricity bills, raise gasoline prices, and ship more American jobs overseas to places like China and India.”

Earlier today, President Obama spoke to a United Nations “Climate Change Summit.” House Republican Leader John Boehner made the following comment in response:

“Yesterday, President Obama’s Energy Secretary compared the American people to ‘teenage kids’ when it comes to energy policy. Earlier today, the President addressed a United Nations ‘Climate Change Summit’ in New York and touted a variation on the Democrats’ national energy tax – legislation that, according to the Administration’s own estimates, will cost families an average of $1,700 a year in higher costs. Out-of-touch Washington Democrats don’t seem to get it. Middle-class families and small businesses are struggling, and they shouldn’t be punished with costly legislation that will increase electricity bills, raise gasoline prices, and ship more American jobs overseas to places like China and India.

“There is a better solution. Republicans’ ‘all of the above’ strategy is the fastest route to a cleaner, more reliable energy future. Our legislation – the American Energy Act – will clean up the environment, lower energy costs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create a millions of good-paying, new American jobs. That’s change we can truly believe in.”

NOTE: Last week, CBS News and other media outlets reported that a private analysis prepared by the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department estimates that the cap-and-trade national energy tax will result in an average $1,761 in increased costs for American families.