Biden blasts Romney over energy tax credits
Updated at 3 p.m. ET
DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday lashed out at Mitt Romney in Iowa for the second straight day, this time taking issue with the Republican's reluctance to embrace tax credits for wind and solar energy.
President Obama and his administration have pushed Congress to extend tax credits that they argue would save jobs in the field of clean-energy production. But Romney, in his economic plan, has criticized Obama's investment in renewable energy, singling out solar and wind as "two of the most ballyhooed" forms of alternative fuel.
"We are importing less oil than [at] any time in the last 16 years," Biden said. "But we think you got to bet on it all ... You had our good friend Mitt Romney saying he dismissed wind and solar by saying they're 'two of the most ballyhooed forms of alternative energy.' Tell that to the 7,000 workers manufacturing wind power here in Iowa."
Watch Biden call Romney a "job creator... in Singapore" on Tuesday in the video to the left.
The production tax credit gives wind farms a credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of energy produced. The credit is scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Obama also is calling on Congress to extend a 30 percent investment tax credit for manufacturers that invest in equipment to make components for clean-energy projects in the U.S.
Biden also repeated his attack from Tuesday on Romney as an "outsourcer-in-chief" because of his former company's investments in firms that sent jobs to other countries. He pushed back against the Romney campaign's criticism that a Washington Post article on the subject did not differentiate between offshoring -- sending jobs overseas -- and outsourcing, or employing another firm to do work that previously had been done in house.
"If you're looking for work, that's a pretty cruel joke," Biden said of the difference between the two terms. "I can picture one guy in my old neighborhood standing next to another guy in an unemployment line saying, 'Hey John, did you get offshored or outsourced? Which happened to you?' Do you think it matters to the American worker?"
The Romney campaign planned to meet on Wednesday with Post editors to seek a retraction for the article, Politico reported.
With the Supreme Court expected to rule on Thursday on health care, Biden took another jab at Romney by asking the crowd what it thought the Court would look like under the Republican.
"Tell me what you think is going to happen to women's rights in this country, civil rights," he said.
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Who does Joe think owns those giant wind turbines, rich people.
Who does Joe think owns those solar panel factories, rich people.
How do we pay for the tax breaks to those rich people Joe?
Which mouth is Joe going to talk out of tomorrow?
Do away with all of the subsidies for oil, gas, wind, solar, etc. etc. etc. Let them compete in the narket and quit giving these fat cats tax breaks.
I say that the best use for fossil fuels is to create renewable energy sources, because once we run out of fossil fuels we are done, no more fossil fuels for energy and no more creating renewable energy resources. It gives stuck a whole new meaning.
There's no doubt we need renewable energy sources, but we also should use the oil we have. Leaving it the ground solves nothing. Making it more expensive will hurt the economy.
Now, if people only knew those evil oil company profits might very well be why their IRA or 401k has such good returns, maybe they'd have that "OHHHH... I get it" moment, and understand that those profits aren't bad at all. They make people (YES PEOPLE... THE ONES THAT ACTUALLY OWN THE CORPORATIONS!!!) wealthy.
Advice to democrats - buy stock in Exxon. End of complaints about profits.
I suppose you're talking about Solyndra? Thats the price of capitalism buddy, some startups fail and that one was just a drop in the bucket.
You are right - he has the brains of a Senator and Vice President - and you have the brains of an unaccomplished jealous little man.
Proven record on management.
Proven record on economic growth.
An actual success rate (read that as above Obama's record of ZERO) when investing money into businesses.
Follows the rule of law.
Didn't smoke his way through high school and college.
Didn't spend his life searching for an identity.
Didn't spend any time with anti-Americans such as Rev Wright and Ayers.
Actually has an education in business, finance and economics.
Didn't spend time in Harvard academic circles arrogantly theorizing how socialism could finally work, if it was just enacted properly.
Learned from his mistakes on Romneycare and has ideas how to make a better system.
Didn't send guns to mexico in the hopes to bolster anti-gun laws.
Do I really have to continue?
Either way, your guy is out come November. And the funny thing is any one of the GOP candidates would have won b/c the country is in the proverbial crapper, and most of our problems were created by your guy!
The sources you mention don't have it.