Regional Roundup: National "Cap-And-Trade" Energy Tax Hits Every State Across America
Democrats' Proposal Would Ship Jobs Overseas And Hike Energy Costs to the Tune of Up to $3,100 Per Household, News Reports Indicate
Washington,
Mar 31 -
The Democrats’ “cap-and-trade” proposal, which will be debated beginning tomorrow as part of the Democrats’ budget, would impose a massive $646 billion national energy tax on American families and small businesses from coast to coast. Anyone who has the audacity to flip on a light switch will be forced to pay higher energy bills thanks to this new tax increase, which will cost every American family up to $3,100 per year in higher energy prices. On a parallel track, Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (R-CA) also unveiled his own stand-alone cap-and-trade “discussion draft” today as well.
Governor Haley Barbour (R-MS), who delivered the weekly Republican address two weeks ago, addressed this issue:
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“The cap and trade tax and other energy taxes will drive up both electricity and gasoline prices for families and for businesses. And while Wall Street gets trillions to bail them out, small businesses will get stuck with not only income tax increases but also enormous cost increases for energy: for electricity and gasoline. Families will get clobbered, too.”
“Don’t take my word for it; listen to what Barack Obama himself told The San Francisco Chronicle last year, and I quote: ‘Under my plan of cap and trade, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.’ And President Obama was right. His energy taxes, like the cap and trade tax, will drive energy costs for American families through the roof.”
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House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said today at a press conference that the more President talks about his budget “the less people like it.” A glance at news reports from around the country confirms this:
- “Gov. Joe Manchin said the Obama administration’s plan to auction permits that would allow companies to emit greenhouse gases could clobber electric customers…Appalachian Power Co.’s proposed 43 percent rate hike is ‘a drop in the bucket compared to cap-and-trade,’ Manchin said. With a cap-and-trade system, ‘you’ll pay twice what you do now.’” – “Governor Frets Over Power Costs,” Charleston Daily Mail (West Virginia), March 31, 2009
- “Federal regulation of carbon emissions with a cap-and-trade system will increase South Dakota residential electric bills a minimum of 41 percent by 2015, utility and cooperative managers said Friday…’You can't have a tax on coal without a profound impact (on consumers),’ said Steve Willard, executive director for the South Dakota Electric Utility Companies, which includes Xcel Energy and MidAmerican Energy and serves 55 percent of the consumers in South Dakota.” – “Cap-Trade on Carbon May Push Up Costs,” Argus Leader, March 28, 2009
- “Economic analysis by The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University in Boston shows the Western Climate Initiative's regional carbon emissions cap-and-trade program could cost Washington as Many as 18,292 net jobs, $5.7 Billion in personal income.” – “Economic Analysis Shows Cap-and-Trade Would Cost WA Thousands of Jobs and Billions of Dollars,” Seattle Public Policy Examiner, March 30, 2009
- “For North Dakota, this plan would be a huge transfer of wealth from us to citizens in other states. Our electric rates would go up substantially more than most others by virtue of the fact that we are dependent on coal. This is no fault of our own. In fact, federal law in the 1970s and 1980s mandated that the lowest-cost power source be built. In the Upper Midwest, that meant building coal plants.” – “‘Cap and Trade’ Would Cost North Dakota,” Grand Forks Herald op-ed, March 29, 2009
- “The National Association of Manufacturers has estimated a cap-and-trade bill could cost Indiana thousands of jobs because of the cost of complying with the new standards and competition from other countries with lower energy costs. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that cutting emissions 15 percent could cost the average household about $1,600. The biggest price increase would come in electricity, heating, cooling and other direct energy costs. But prices are expected to increase across the board because energy is used for almost all goods and services.” – “Cap, Trade Could be Tough Sell in Indiana,” Indianapolis Star, March 30, 2009
House Republicans do not believe that raising energy prices is the right answer at a time when the American people are hurting and the economy is in recession. Instead, House Republicans are offering a better solution, which Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will unveil tomorrow.
Yesterday, Leader Boehner announced that House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) will chair the House GOP American Energy Solutions Group, which will work on crafting Republican solutions to lower energy prices for American families and small businesses. Rep. Pence and others in the Solutions Group will develop an “all-of-the-above” energy plan that will create up to one million new jobs in the United States by increasing American energy production, encouraging greater efficiency and conservation, and promoting the use of alternative fuels.
