ST. PAUL – Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) stopped by bloggers row here inside the Excel Energy Center and we pressed him to talk about … energy. Specifically what he thought about the Gang of 10 energy plan beginning to take form in the Senate. DeMint stressed that whatever the bill looked like when it was introduced, it was guaranteed to be drastically worse by the time it passed: “You have to remember, the five Republicans working on the compromise are working with the five most reasonable Democrats. If it gets to the floor, it will get worse. The left does not like nuclear, so that will probably be lost. And in exchange all we get is higher taxes.”
DeMint went on to stress that now is not the time to compromise on the issue: “We can not compromise on on national security. We can stop the ban now. There is no reason to compromise.” When pressed on whether he could accept the House ‘All of the Above’ plan, DeMint said that “tax credits don’t bother me” and that he thought it was perfectly reasonable to pay for them with the revenues from new natural gas and oil leases. But he did say that he did not want the government to be picking winners and losers in the energy market: “The corn based ethanol mandates and subsidies were a mistake. We should not make the same mistake again.”
