Shifting to renewable energy makes long-term fiscal sense

As I watch the debate over the Inflation Reduction Act, I am struck that rebuttal positions fail to offer alternative ways to combat the climate war. When all are threatened, all should battle the common enemy together. Who is the enemy? George W. Bush described it as “our addiction to fossil fuels.” He was right. He may not have admitted much, or we may have started bipartisan greenhouse reduction plans sooner.

Rapidly rising greenhouse emissions are verifiably attributable to the reliance on oil, gas and coal — deforestation and agriculture claim about 11%.

Fossils dominate energy demands for the other sectors - industry, electricity, transportation, and business/residential. After years of subsidizing pipeline access, transportation and fuel production, it’s time to incentivize energy sources that deliver power more cheaply without adding to our greenhouse blanket.

New opportunities will emerge, the air will be fresher and respiratory illnesses will diminish. Shifting favor to renewable energy ought to make long-term fiscal sense to all of us. Sensible sustainability.

BOB JAMES, ATLANTA

Government can’t spend its way out of recession

There is no better example of the disconnect between the Democrat majority in the Senate and the rest of us than the current spectacle, humorously known as a Vote-A-Rama.

The Democrats in the Senate think that tacking more and more ridiculous spending provisions to an already bloated bill is something that average Americans grappling with $4 gas and skyrocketing grocery bills want to see. Despite the Congressional Budget Office and hundreds of economists stating the bill will do nothing to reduce inflation, the Senate pressed on. What happened to “listening to the experts?” The country has tried several times since the 1970s to spend its way out of recessions and use government intervention to end inflation, which has never worked. This latest effort will share the same fate while driving our deficit even higher. We deserve better leadership.

GARY O’NEIL, MARIETTA

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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) (center left) speaks with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) as they leave a Senate Republican luncheon and the Senate holds a “vote-a-rama” to pass President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Monday, June 30, 2025.  (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

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