June 25, 2008

Energy For A Secure Nation

This week, John McCain Will Discuss How Our Dependence On Foreign Sources Of Oil Threatens Our National Security.  Oil is not just a commodity.  It is a strategic weapon that others use to threaten our economy and to finance terrorist attacks.  In addition, the lines of our oil supply provide an ample target for terrorists.

Dependence On Oil Provides Direct Support To Our Enemies And Threatens The Peace:

• Rising Oil Prices Provide Massive Infusions Of Wealth To Some Of The World's Most Repressive Dictatorships.  Oil wealth enriches bad actors in the world that support terrorism, finances the brutal repression of women in the Middle East, and supports criminal syndicates in our own hemisphere.
  
  
• The Formation Of The OPEC Cartel And The Oil Embargo Of The 1970s Demonstrated Our Vulnerability.  At the time of the oil embargo, we imported roughly one third of our oil. Today, we import almost two-thirds.  Since 1973, the United States has gone from importing 6 million barrels of oil a day to 12 million barrels per day with petroleum payments comprising 41 percent of the U.S. trade deficit ($293 billion of $759 billion).
  
  
• While Our Dependence On Foreign Oil Does Support Our Enemies, The United States Relies On Canada And Mexico -- Our Friends And NAFTA Partners -- For Much Of Our Oil.  America imports about one third of its oil from Canada and Mexico.  When politicians threaten to renegotiate NAFTA unilaterally, they threaten to disrupt relations between the US and our most stable and friendly providers of oil.  These politicians also forget that Canada is the most important export market for 36 of our 50 states.

John McCain Will Put America On The Path To Eliminate The Strategic Threat From Oil:

• To Mitigate The Threats Posed By Our Dependence On Foreign Oil, We Must Increase Oil Production Here At Home.  We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production of another 18 billion barrels of oil.  It is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use.
  
  
• As Part Of His Plan To Break The Stranglehold Of Oil, John McCain Supports The Development Of Alternate Sources Of Power For Our Vehicles And The Promotion Of Energy Efficiency.  Ninety-seven percent of our transportation runs on oil. Cars and trucks consume almost 60 percent of all of the oil used in the United States.
  
  
• Today, Isolationist Tariffs And Wasteful Special Interest Subsidies Are Not Moving Us Toward An Energy Solution.  We need to level the playing field and eliminate mandates, subsidies, tariffs and price supports that focus exclusively on corn-based ethanol and prevent the development of market-based solutions which would provide us with better options for our fuel needs.
  
  
• John McCain Will Issue A Clean Car Challenge. John McCain will issue a Clean Car Challenge to the automakers of America, in the form of a single and substantial tax credit based on the reduction of carbon emissions.  For every automaker who sells a zero-emissions car, John McCain will commit a $5,000 tax credit for each who buys that car.  For other vehicles, whatever type they may be, the lower the carbon emissions, the higher the tax credit.
  
  
• John McCain Will Propose A $300 Million Prize To Improve Battery Technology For Full Commercial Development Of Plug-In Hybrid And Full Electric Automobiles.  A $300 million prize should be awarded for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.  That battery should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs.  At $300 million, the prize is one dollar for every man, woman and child in this country -- and a small price to pay for breaking our dependence on oil.

This Week’s Note From Jo Ann:

Here are more key talking points on the need to lessen our dependence on foreign sources of oil.  Our e-mails and phone calls are telling us how strongly Americans feel about this issue.  Help spread the word on the aggressive steps John McCain will take to increase our sources of energy and secure our nation. 

Click here for the complete archive of the Co-Chairman's Talking Points