Tomorrow, President Obama will speak at the Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Florida.

While the President regularly says he supports “comprehensive” energy development, the Florida branch of the Solar Energy Industries Association actually recently announced support for a concrete, common-sense way to develop a wide range of American energy resources.

As the New York Times reported on October 5^th:

“In a release last week, the Florida branch of the Solar Energy Industries Association announced its support for drilling off the state’s coast – in order to create a revenue stream to support solar energy.

If offshore drilling goes forward, ‘we want to be able to have a seat at the table, to direct those funds or at least a portion of those funds to a clean energy source,’ Bruce Kershner, executive director of the group, said in a telephone interview.”

If the proposal sounds familiar, that’s because it is.

In June, Republicans included this exact same concept in the American Energy Act. Specifically, our all-of-the-above energy bill takes a portion of the revenue raised from new offshore drilling and creates a Renewable and Alternative Energy Trust Fund to provide funding for renewable energy projects – including solar.

In comparison to the President’s job-killing National Energy Tax, the American Energy Act is a much better way to develop all types of energy and help the 11% of Floridians who are looking for a job.