The initial reaction to Carter's speech was generally positive, but Carter erred by forcing out several cabinet members, including Secretary of Energy Schlesinger, later in July.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, pp. 178–179, 182 Nonetheless, Congress approved a $227 billion windfall profits tax and passed the Energy Security Act. The Energy Security Act established the Synthetic Fuels Corporation, which was charged with developing alternative energy sources.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, pp. 182–183, 214 Despite those legislative victories, in 1980 Congress rescinded Carter's imposition of a surcharge on imported oil, and rejected his proposed Energy Mobilization Board, a government body that was designed to facilitate the construction of power plants.Kaufman and Kaufman, 2006, pp. 182, 215 Nonetheless, Kaufman and Kaufman write that policies enacted under Carter represented the "most sweeping energy legislation in the nation's history." Carter's policies contributed to a decrease in per capita energy consumption, which dropped by 10 percent from 1979 to 1983.Patterson, pp. 119–120 Oil imports, which had reached a record 2.4 billion barrels in 1977 (50% of supply), declined by half from 1979 to 1983.
