A TV ad sponsored by business groups claims a bill to curb carbon emissions “will cost up to 2.4 million U.S. jobs” if enacted. That directly contradicts claims by President Obama and his allies who say the bill would create jobs – 1.7 million of them according to one TV spot …
Issues: energy
McDonnell’s Distorted Attack
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s new ad claims that Democrat Creigh Deeds’ policies would bring $7,800 in higher taxes over four years for Virginia households. The ad would be devastating, if it were true.
Fuel for Frustration
Deeds has never proposed a "billion dollar gas tax increase," as the ad claims. It’s true that many transportation experts and legislators in Virginia have said that an additional $1 billion per year is needed to widen highways,
1,120 Days – and Counting – Till Election 2012!
In what could be an early preview of the 2012 campaign, Mitt Romney – a once and perhaps future Republican presidential hopeful – has released a new video on his political action committee’s Web site attacking President Barack Obama on climate change legislation.
Romney says that any cap-and-trade proposal "wouldn’t do a thing" because it would simply move "greenhouse gas emitters from America, to other nations like China and India that don’t participate in our program."
77-Cent Increase Per Gallon of Gas?
Q: Will the House cap-and-trade bill raise the cost of a gallon of gasoline by 77 cents?
A: That extreme estimate comes from the oil and gas industry’s lobby. Nonpartisan government experts project a lower increase, most likely between 12 and 67 cents per gallon in 2020.
Boehner and the Cost of Cap and Trade
On Sept. 20 on NBC’s "Meet the Press," House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio claimed that according to the Department of Treasury, the Democrats’ proposed cap-and-trade system would be costly for American families:
Boehner, Sept. 20: It’s a cap-and-trade system, this big giant tax on the American people that this week, we just find out, the Treasury Department said will cost the average family $1,700 per year.
That’s not true.
Dueling Ads in Virginia Race, Part 2
Last week, we wrote about a TV ad from Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate to be the state’s governor, which misleadingly described his opponent’s role in utility rate increases over the last few years. Deeds’ Republican challenger, former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell, responded with a misleading ad of his own.
The ad turns the tables on Deeds, saying that he "supports Washington’s cap and trade energy scheme that will dramatically increase utility rates for families and kill 56,000 coal and manufacturing jobs."
Dueling Ads in Virginia Race
A TV ad from Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds, who’s running on the Democratic ticket in one of the nation’s two gubernatorial races this year, misleadingly describes his opponent’s role in utility rate increases over the last several years.
The Deeds campaign’s ad, "Power," asks viewers, "In tough times, what kind of politician sides with Appalachian Power?" The answer is "Bob McDonnell," according to the ad’s narrator. According to the narrator, McDonnell, the former state attorney general and GOP candidate,
Energy Bill and Existing Homes
Q: Does the House energy bill subject owners of existing homes to an energy efficiency audit before they can sell?
A: Rep. Boehner and Rush Limbaugh got this wrong. The Realtors and home builders associations say there’s no such requirement in the bill, as do we.
FactCheck.org Cited in Ad
From time to time, we find that our work is cited by politicians or political groups. Last week, the League of Conservation Voters ran an ad in Virginia referencing our articles on the cap-and-trade energy bill:
The LCV ad says that Republicans are attacking Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello of Virginia for "supporting a new clean energy jobs plan," but that we said the "Republican ad was wrong" and figures used by Republican Whip Eric Cantor were a "misrepresentation."
Ads Energetically Thank Democrats
Recently, we have seen several ads from liberal advocacy groups thanking various Democratic representatives for voting in favor of the Waxman-Markey energy bill. Some, like those from the group Americans United for Change, benignly mix images of nature with kind words of thanks. Others pour on the superlatives, but could use some further explanation.
For instance, an ad from VoteVets says that because the bill was passed, "now America is poised to import less oil, 300,000 barrels less every day."