President Barack Obama can count on help from his Republican foes in the US Congress to help boost free trade and expand nuclear energy production, the party's top senator said Thursday.
Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed Obama's call in his State of the Union speech to "strengthen our trade relations" with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, and build "a new generation" of nuclear plants.
"Republicans agree with the need to increase trade and with the need to ratify trade agreements with Colombia and other important trading partners that so far have met resistance on the other side of the aisle," said McConnell.
Obama did not specifically call for ratifying stalled trade deals with all three countries, and McConnell was careful not to name the South Korea pact, which faces opposition from lawmakers on both sides.
The Republican leader, who sharply opposes Obama's broad strategy for battling climate change, warmly welcomed the president's insistence that increasing the number of "clean energy jobs" meant investments in new nuclear plants.
"We should build a new generation of clean nuclear plants in this country," said McConnell, who underlined Republican support for "building 100 new plants as quickly as possible."
He also cheered Obama's call for increased offshore exploration for oil and natural gas, as well as developing more so-called "clean coal" technologies — both controversial among environmental activists.
"This is an area with a huge opportunity for American jobs that can't be sent overseas," the Kentucky Republican said.
But McConnell stuck to his opposition to creating a "cap-and-trade" system for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, stressing that "increased American energy without a new national energy tax will grow good jobs."
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