Obama Rejects Republican Criticism on Energy
Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama began his remarks on Friday by offering the condolences of the American people to Japan.
1:37 p.m. | Updated President Obama on Friday rejected criticism from Republicans that his administration was blocking domestic oil production and said his government was prepared to encourage new drilling in the face of rising gas prices.
“Any notion that my administration has shut down oil production might make for a good political slogan, but it doesn’t match up with reality,” Mr. Obama said during a wide-ranging news conference in which he also addressed the earthquake in Japan and the uprisings in the Middle East.
Republicans in Congress said this week that the White House was responsible for the rising price of gasoline. Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio on Thursday proposed new efforts to expand domestic oil production.
“The Obama administration has consistently blocked American energy production that would lower costs and create jobs in our country,” Mr. Boehner said on Thursday.
In his news conference, Mr. Obama said his administration was moving to encourage more drilling on land and offshore. But he stressed the need for new investment in clean energies that would help the country wean itself of its dependence on foreign oil.
“Every few years, gas prices go up, politicians pull out the same political playbook and nothing changes,” Mr. Obama said. “I think the American people are tired of talk. We’ve got to work together, Democrats, Republicans and everybody in between.”
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News Speaker John A. Boehner said that Congressional Republicans would introduce several energy bills to encourage domestic oil production.Asked about the budget negotiations on Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama said it would be “irresponsible” for Congress to continually try to operate the government by a series of two-week budget extensions.
But he conceded that the negotiations were not likely to succeed by the end of next week, which would force at least one more extension. He said Democrats and Republicans must find a way to reach a compromise between the cuts that both sides have already proposed.
“Both sides are going to have to sit down and compromise on prudent cuts,” Mr. Obama said.
On the continuing violence in Libya, the president said he had not taken any options off the table as the government and its allies sought ways to force the Libyan leader out of the country.
But he pushed back against criticism that the United States was being too timid in its handling of the crisis Some have criticized the administration for failing to move quickly in imposing a no-flight zone above Libya.
“Now I do take very seriously making sure that any decisions I make involving American military power are well thought through,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama reiterated his belief that America could not stand by if a large-scale slaughter of civilians took place in Libya. And he said the United States and its allies were monitoring the situation to see if that occured.
But he added that “obviously we are going to have to look at what develops on the ground on a case-by-case basis.”
Mr. Obama acknowledged that the situation in Libya and the other events in the Middle East and North Africa over the past several weeks had caused uncertainty in the oil markets.
“Should the situation demand it, we are prepared to tap the significant stockpile that we have in the strategic petroleum reserve,” Mr. Obama said.
But he declined to specify what price gas would have to hit before the government would tap the reserves and release that oil into the market. He said such a release would require a significant disruption in the flow of oil similar to the oil crisis of the 1970s or Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“If we see significant disruptions or shifts in the market that are so disconcerting to people that we think a strategic petroleum release would be appropriate, then we will take that step,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama described himself as “heartbroken” by the devastation in Japan caused by the earthquake and tsunami there.
“When you see what’s happening in Japan, you are reminded that for all our differences in language or culture or religion, that humanity is one,” he said. “You think about your own family and you think about how you would feel if you lost a loved one.”
But he said he was confident that Japan would be able to rebuild, and he pledged the United States help in the coming days, largely by bringing heavy equipment to the affected areas.
View the original article here
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
Twitter
Facebook