8 Dems oppose quick debate on global warming bill

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

WASHINGTON -- Eight Senate Democrats are opposing speedy action on President Barack Obama's bill to combat global warming, complicating prospects for the legislation and creating problems for their party's leaders.

The eight Democrats disapprove of using the annual budget debate to pass Obama's "cap and trade" bill to fight greenhouse gas emissions, a measure that divides lawmakers, environmentalists and businesses. The lawmakers' opposition makes it more difficult for Democratic leaders to move the bill without a threat of a Republican filibuster.

The budget debate is the only way to circumvent Senate rules that allow a unified GOP to stop a bill through filibusters.

"Enactment of a cap-and-trade regime is likely to influence nearly every feature of the U.S. economy," wrote the Democratic senators, mostly moderates. They were joined by 25 Republicans. "Legislation so far-reaching should be fully vetted and given appropriate time for debate."

It takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, but Democrats and allied independents currently control 58 seats.

Under a cap and trade system, the government would auction off permits to emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The auctions would raise almost $650 billion over the next decade, with the cost passed on to consumers as higher energy prices.

The cap and trade proposal is highly controversial, especially in heavily industrialized states and regions where people get their electricity from coal-fired power plants. Obama's promise to use most of the revenue to award $400 tax credits to most workers hasn't quelled the controversy since the increases in utility bills could easily exceed the amount of the tax cut.

The Democrats who signed the letter, addressed to the chairman and top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, were: Robert Byrd, W.Va.; Blanche Lincoln, Ark.; Mary Landrieu, La.; Carl Levin, Mich.; Evan Bayh, Ind.; Ben Nelson, Neb.; Bob Casey Jr., Pa.; and Mark Pryor, Ark.

The 25 Republicans were led by Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska.

Fast-track budget rules were used to enact President George W. Bush's tax cuts and two major budget bills during the Clinton administration, including a 1993 measure that failed to win a single GOP vote.

The House and Senate Budget committees are slated to vote on the budget resolution next week, with Senate debate scheduled for the week of March 30.

There also has been speculation that the expedited rules could be used to pass a health care overhaul bill, but senior Senate Democrats such as Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., oppose the idea, saying health reform must be enacted on a bipartisan basis.

The White House is open to the idea of using the fast-track rules for both global warming and health care.

"We would prefer not to start there, but we're not taking anything off the table at this point," White House budget chief Peter Orszag said last week.

http://www.macon.com/nation/story/652070.html

[Pooky 3,840]

Well, good for them.

The cap and trade proposal should never be hidden away under a mechanism to evade proper debate. Its effects are too far-reaching and the consequences of getting it wrong don't bear thinking about. To even consider hiding it away under the auspices of the annual budget debate show that the new administration knows how unpopular the proposal is likely to be and that it does not want to expend the time, or the energy trying to persuade even representatives from its own party of its merits.

The eight dissenting Democrats deserve a good deal of praise for standing up to be counted. It shows that there are Democrat politicians willing to risk the ire of their party's heirachy in order to preserve real debate in the Senate.

[NickD 203]

Well, good for them.

The cap and trade proposal should never be hidden away under a mechanism to evade proper debate. Its effects are too far-reaching and the consequences of getting it wrong don't bear thinking about. To even consider hiding it away under the auspices of the annual budget debate show that the new administration knows how unpopular the proposal is likely to be and that it does not want to expend the time, or the energy trying to persuade even representatives from its own party of its merits.

The eight dissenting Democrats deserve a good deal of praise for standing up to be counted. It shows that there are Democrat politicians willing to risk the ire of their party's heirachy in order to preserve real debate in the Senate.

Love it when the government controls our lives with taxes.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Obama climate plan could cost $2 trillion

President Obama's climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, nearly three times the White House's initial estimate of the so-called "cap-and-trade" legislation, according to Senate staffers who were briefed by the White House.

A top economic aide to Mr. Obama told a group of Senate staffers last month that the president's climate-change plan would surely raise more than the $646 billion over eight years the White House had estimated publicly, according to multiple a number of staffers who attended the briefing Feb. 26.

"We all looked at each other like, 'Wow, that's a big number,'" said a top Republican staffer who attended the meeting along with between 50 and 60 other Democratic and Republican congressional aides.

The plan seeks to reduce pollution by setting a limit on carbon emissions and allowing businesses and groups to buy allowances, although exact details have not been released.

At the meeting, Jason Furman, a top Obama staffer, estimated that the president's cap-and-trade program could cost up to three times as much as the administration's early estimate of $646 billion over eight years. A study of an earlier cap-and-trade bill co-sponsored by Mr. Obama when he was a senator estimated the cost could top $366 billion a year by 2015.

A White House official did not confirm the large estimate, saying only that Obama aides previously had noted that the $646 billion estimate was "conservative."

"Any revenues in excess of the estimate would be rebated to vulnerable consumers, communities and businesses," the official said.

The Obama administration has proposed using the majority of the money generated from a cap-and-trade plan to pay for its middle-class tax cuts, while using about $120 billion to invest in renewable-energy projects.

Mr. Obama and congressional Democratic leaders have made passing a climate-change bill a top priority. But Republican leaders and moderate to conservative Democrats have cautioned against levying increased fees on businesses while the economy is still faltering.

House Republican leaders blasted the costs in the new estimate.

"The last thing we need is a massive tax increase in a recession, but reportedly that's what the White House is offering: up to $1.9 trillion in tax hikes on every single American who drives a car, turns on a light switch or buys a product made in the United States," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner. "And since this energy tax won't affect manufacturers in Mexico, India and China, it will do nothing but drive American jobs overseas."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/m...ost-2-trillion/