WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-IL) today issued the following statement in response to the President’s Oval Office address on the Gulf oil spill: “The President’s speech tonight was a disappointing attempt to deflect attention from the federal government’s dismal response to the Gulf oil spill. A crisis is not something to take advantage of; it’s something to resolve. Yet tonight, the President pushed to ‘seize the moment’ and pursue costly cap-and-trade legislation that will cripple our economy and raise taxes on every American.
The ‘national mission’ the President called for should be stopping this leak. Unfortunately, the President’s defensive posture toward this whole incident is restraining our ability to get the leak fixed. Where the President sees a political opportunity to change the subject and talk about a radical energy tax, the American people see our nation’s worst environmental disaster lacking a clear direction toward resolution.”