National Energy Plan Statement by the White House Press Secretary Following Congressional Actions on Portions of the Plan.

I have some comments for you from the President with regard to the energy program.

The President feels that we have received good cooperation from the Congress thus far in speeding consideration of the energy program. A number of proposals have been tentatively, at least, approved. He would like to commend the Senate for its actions yesterday on the Clean Air Act.

However, the President is deeply concerned about several recent actions. It is his feeling that despite the efforts of Chairmen Ullman, Dingell, and others on behalf of the American public, yesterday the oil companies and the automobile companies and their lobbyists won significant preliminary victories.

The President feels that the unnecessary action to deregulate natural gas is particularly serious. That action, if it finally becomes law, will cost the American consumers more than $80 billion during the next 8 years.

The President considers that action to be a direct and extremely serious deviation from the basic fairness of the energy plan. It is his hope and belief that the full committee--that is, the commerce committee--and the Congress will reverse this action.

He is also deeply concerned about early actions of the House Ways and Means Committee on several important elements of the energy plan.

The President feels that it is important to realize what the stakes are, that the energy proposals are a comprehensive package to help the Nation prepare, with a maximum of foresight and a minimum of dislocation, for inevitable shortages of energy.

The President is eager to work with the Congress, as he has in the past, to develop solutions to this problem. However, it should be noted that both the CBO, Congressional Budget Office, and the GAO [General Accounting Office] have indicated that based on their figures, any changes in the plan should strengthen it. But actions taken yesterday threaten to seriously weaken the overall energy effort.

These last few are the President's words directly: "The people of this country will be the ones to suffer if our hopes for an energy plan are thwarted. They will be the ones who will pay for yesterday's special interest victories."