The Choice Is Clear

The answer to our rising gas prices is not drilling off our Florida coast or in Anwar.  The fact is that it would barely make a dent in our oil needs, it would only give more money to Big Oil organizations. As Obama says, “We can’t afford 4 more years of our addiction to oil from dictators.”  Check out how Obama and McCain compare:

The Choice Is Clear

CHALLENGE		McCAIN
Immediate Financial Relief for Families This Summer	$300 per family in rebate checks from a second round of stimulus to help families offset the cost of $4.00 gas this summer. (Obama Second Stimulus Plan)	No credible plan for immediate financial relief. Proposed a gas tax gimmick that would provide at most 30 cents a day for the typical workers while increasing oil company profits and depriving our under-funded national highway trust fund of $10 billion. (Tax Policy Center)
Making America’s Economy Vibrant and Competitive in the Long Haul	Apollo-scale investment of $150 billion investment over 10 years to jumpstart renewable energy technology development and deployment.	No comprehensive plan for clean energy investments. Has repeatedly opposed any new investments and incentives in for renewable energy. He rejects 99.8% of the Obama ideas for investing in our energy future – the advanced battery prize represents 0.2% of the overall investment in the Obama plan.
The Next 10 Years of Oil	3 million barrels of oil savings. Plan will reduce U.S. oil consumption by about 3 million barrels of oil per day by 2018. Supports new development on existing leases, which could nearly double total U.S. oil production, and increase natural gas production by 75 percent. (Obama Energy Plan)	Not a drop more. McCain plan to open up our coastlines to drilling would not bring meaningful new production on-line for ten years. (U.S. Dept. of Energy)
Reducing Dependence on Foreign Oil	Plan to reduce oil consumption by 10 million barrels, or at least 35%, by 2030. That is enough to totally offset our imports from OPEC countries.	Says No to this goal, and has no plan to reduce our long-term dependence on oil.
Green Collar Jobs	Plan for renewables, fuel economy and energy efficiency will help create 5 million new green collar jobs.	No green jobs plan.
Ending Excessive Speculation in Oil Markets	Supports fully closing the Enron Loophole and eliminating offshore loopholes that encourage excessive speculation. Plan will ease the impact of rising prices.	No plan. Sen. Phil Gramm – one of Senator McCain’s chief economic advisors – was responsible for sneaking the Enron Loophole into law.
Fuel Economy v Offshore Drilling	Supports doubling the fuel efficiency of autos within 18 years, saving American consumers from purchasing a half trillion gallons of gas. Taking this one step will achieve more than three times the oil savings than could be produced under even the most optimist scenarios of drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Obama Energy Plan; Department of Energy)	No plan to increase fuel efficiency standards. Repeatedly opposed legislative efforts to increase CAFE standards. Now supports simply enforcing existing standards.
Energy Efficiency	Plan will reduce the energy intensity of our economy 50% by 2030, through improvements in building efficiency, smart grid, and giving utilities an incentive to invest in efficiency rather than new production.	No energy efficiency plan.
Windfall Profits Tax	Supports implementing a well-designed windfall profits tax on profits made over $80 per barrel to help families pay energy bills.	No windfall profits tax plan. Supports $4 billion per year in new tax breaks for major U.S. oil companies, including $1.2 billion per year for Exxon-Mobil – the most profitable company in the history of the world. (Center for American Progress)