Democrats on Capitol Hill say that historic and controversial climate change legislation is likely to pass the House of Representatives tomorrow. A top Democratic aide estimated that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had banked just enough votes as of this evening. Included are a handful of Republicans. Other Democrats said that they weren't sure where the vote count stood, but that they expected the bill to pass. (Republicans say they're confident it will fail.) Late today, the AFL-CIO endorsed the bill, which might boost its fortunes among Democrats in Pennsylvania. And on the other side, the Chamber of Commerce said it would count the vote as "key," which means they'll hold a "yes" vote against lawmakers.
The bill, written by Rep. Henry Waxman and Rep. Ed Markey, was never supposed to get this far. Senior Democrats, administration officials and Democratic Senators scoffed when Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, promised to report an ambitious cap-and-trade bill to the floor by July. They were wrong. And now, the White House is on board, with President Obama telephoning undecided Democrats today to urge their vote.
House Democrats sweetened the deal for representatives in the farm belt and have tried to assuage the concerns of Democrats who represent coal and natural gas-producing districts. These wavering Democrats worry that their constituents would bear a disproportionately high burden of the direct and secondary economic costs of a cap-and-trade system. The debate is classic Washington, putting the short-term economic conseridations of congressional districts versus a long-term and fairly intangible public goal.
On the other hand it is becoming the worst of new Washington.
Pass a bill stuffed with earmarks and handouts to buy votes and corporate endorsement. And bankrupt the country in the near-term because the revenue from this bill doesn't come back for years. Washington is basically passing so many of these massive tax-and-spend bills by buying votes and printing money. When will the insanity end?
Why not report the expected CO2 reductions that the bill will result and weigh them against cost?
Who cares about the republicans against the democrats, what will this bill accomplish?
20% renewable by 2020, where will this come from? Corn ethanol? that is how they bought passage of this bill. Is Corn ethanol really "green"? Does it even cut CO2 emissions? the answer to both is no.
I could go on.
Why not actually report about the bill?
i just think it's super duper that the Iraq War will pay for itself right newera22?...oh wait....
Meanwhile, scientists and other countries are growing less and less confident about the theory surrounding global warming.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124597505076157449.html
Many have argued that one of the goals for passing this legislation, even if it doesn't have the impact supporters of the global warming theory think is necessary, is to show other countries, especially China and India, that the US is is limiting CO2 outputs so they should also. If we can't even convince Australia to pass a carbon tax or cap & trade, what compels anyone to think China or India would?
Conservative Rascal
Eight Republicans voted for this bill. Follow the link below to see who the RINOs are. If only four had voted with their party we would not have this yoke around our necks.
------- http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/conservativerascal -------
PS: Don't let the "my.barackobama.com" part fool you. Just go there and you will see what I mean.