Press Conference: 1 p.m.
May 30, 2001
For Release Upon Receipt
Murrow Room, National Press Club
Contact: Hugh Newton (703) 807-2070
BUSH ENERGY POLICY IS “SENIOR FRIENDLY”
Stop Demonizing. Start Drilling.
Statement by 60 Plus Association President Jim Martin
Arlington, VA –Having lived or worked on Capitol Hill during the terms of 10 Presidents, dating back to 1953 as a young Marine in President Dwight Eisenhower’s first year, I can honestly say that President George W. Bush has developed the first fully balanced energy plan I’ve seen in 48 years.
As the head of a non-partisan senior citizens group, I point out that five of the nine Presidents preceding Mr. Bush were Republican, so it’s clear both parties have not addressed this issue.
Representing the two fastest growing age groups, those in their mid 80’s and those 100 and above, I want to thank President Bush on behalf of my favorite senior, my mom, Mary Martin Solliday, who is 85, and my second favorite senior, my step-father, Bill Solliday, who is 101!
They recall, as do I, the 1960’s when President Lyndon Johnson announced his energy policy by turning off the lights in the White House, then the sweater era of President Jimmy Carter in the 1970’s when he sat around the White House in cardigans as a way of preserving energy. Not very effective. Senior citizens, on fixed incomes, are most critically impacted by an energy shortage.
Thanks, Mr. President, for not going on bended knee to the OPEC-cartel. Instead you’ve proposed a well balanced plan to both meet our energy needs and to protect the environment.
To critics who carp that the plan was ‘crafted behind closed doors,’ that’s hogwash. Input was from more than 400 sources, producing 105 specific recommendations, with over 40 of these ‘environmentally friendly. A truly non-partisan study of the Bush plan should elicit a strongly favorable reaction. Sadly, however, partisanship prevails.
Democratic critics refuse to take their heads out of the sand, demonizing the issue, saying it ’tilts heavily toward expanding the production and use of coal, gas, and nuclear energy.’ Lack of production is why we’re in this mess in the first place. President Bush inherited this energy crisis, but unlike his predecessors, he is man enough to face it.
Democrats are shameless in trying to blame President Bush, less than some 120 days in office, for this ‘energy crisis,’ blithely ignoring the fact that in his 2,920 days in the White House, President Clinton failed to resolve our dependence on foreign oil. Vice President Dick Cheney and the National Energy Policy Development Group receive an A from the 60 Plus Association for their balanced report to the President, who in turn receives an A+ for his leadership in tasking them to come forth with real long-range solutions, not short-term cosmetics.”Alaskans support oil exploration as do the Republican Congressional delegation and Democratic Governor. Stop the demonizing and let the drilling begin.”
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60 Plus is a nine-year-old non-profit, nonpartisan group with a less government, less taxes approach to seniors’ issues. 60 Plus is supported by voluntary donations from its 500,000 citizen lobbyists to print and mail millions of letters, petitions and voting indexes. 60 Plus publishes a newsletter, SENIOR VOICE, and a SCORECARD, bestowing a GUARDIAN OF SENIORS’ RIGHTS award on lawmakers in both parties who vote “pro-senior.” 60 Plus has been called “an increasingly influential lobbying group for the elderly…”
