It seems our future is being bargained away for a few pieces of silver as this passage from the article indicates. Those of you that have an interest in this, now is the time to write and call your U.S. representative. – Anthony
While Shimkus acknowledged that closed-door negotiating was “just a way of doing business” in Congress, he said offering emission allowances for votes may take the process beyond ethical boundaries.
From the Washington Examiner: To get votes, Waxman offers cap-and-trade breaks
By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
04/23/09
 |
| Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has led efforts to entice votes for the Democratic energy bill by giving some oil refineries favorite treatment in the cap and trade system. |
In exchange for votes to pass a controversial global warming package, Democratic leaders are offering some lawmakers generous emission “allowances” to protect their districts from the economic pain of pollution restrictions.
Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, represents a district with several oil refineries, a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions. He also serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which must approve the global warming plan backed by President Barack Obama.
Green says Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who heads the panel, is trying to entice him into voting for the bill by giving some refineries favorable treatment in the administration’s “cap and trade” system, which is expected to generate hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming years. Under the plan, companies would pay for the right to emit carbon dioxide, but Green and other lawmakers are angling to get a free pass for refineries in their districts.
“We’ve been talking,” Green said, referring to a meeting he had with Waxman on Tuesday night. “To put together a bill that passes, they have to get our votes, and I’m not going to vote for a bill without refinery allowances.”
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the top Republican on the energy panel, said Waxman and others are also dangling allowances for steel and coal-fired power plants to give political cover to Democrats whose districts rely on these companies.
Democrats so far have been unable to get enough support from their own members to pass the bill out of a small global warming subcommittee because most Republicans and many Democrats say the plan will raise energy rates, destroy jobs and increase prices on manufactured goods.
Republicans said Waxman and subcommittee chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., are calling Democrats into their offices and offering allowances, also called credits, in exchange for votes.
Waxman told The Examiner he was not trading votes for allowances.
“That is what the Republicans are saying, but that is not accurate,” he said. The bill left out specifics on allowances “in order to be able to have discussions on how best to ease the transition for various geographical regions and ratepayers.”
“I will politely disagree,” said energy committee member John Shimkus, R-Ill., who insisted Waxman “is calling members into his office to try to get their vote, and that will be based on the credits they are offering.”
While Shimkus acknowledged that closed-door negotiating was “just a way of doing business” in Congress, he said offering emission allowances for votes may take the process beyond ethical boundaries.
“We are talking real dollars here, real shareholder wealth,” Shimkus said, “and we are not being given the time to analyze these credits.”
Environmentalists and free-market advocates say the credits will favor struggling, out-of-date operations.
“We are going to have electricity that is dirtier because the allowances are going to be misallocated,” said Robert Michaels, an economics professor at California State University and senior fellow for the Institute for Energy Research.
Read the full article here (h/t to Ron de Haan
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Why doesn’t Waxman ask his constituents if they want a Cap & Trade bill? Waxman is offering a pittance, in return for obligating taxpayers to pay hefty new taxes forever.
Bad deal.
Politics and special influence to “save the planet”.
Sounds like a Congressional scandal in the making.
When it comes to “saving the planet” some are more equal than others”.
I can’t remember who, but someone said this program will be a massive transfer of wealth to the politically connected from the politically non-connected. Whoever said that looks pretty smart right now.
Smokey—
Waxman’s constituents live in Beverly Hills and environs. They want CO2 emissions control, and Cap and Trade won’t bother them. They have supported his radical environmental views for years, and continue to re-elect him.
Raise your hand if you didn’t see this coming….
It is typical for third world countries to have a high level of corruption which starts at the very top of the Government.
We are doing well in the USA.
Just a few months to go and we can get the original Third World Country Certificate.
It looks very nice.
It carries a beautiful banana at the left side of the letter head followed by the word
REPUBLIC!
Quite an achievement don’t you think.
This is exactly the approach has worked so well with our tax code.
[snip – ad hom]
I wonder when the true environmentalist AGW believers are going to figure out how badly they were duped into pushing this agenda ??
Jim Hansen’s got it figured out, with his accurate comments about zero carbon dioxide molecules coming out of the atmosphere from the European “schemes”.
I guess they never included him in the real agenda. It almost makes me believe that he’s sincere, and outside the circle-of-trust – one of the politically “thinks-he-was connected”.
The Catlin stooges also come to mind ….
… did they get to go for a swim yet ??
The latest rant by Revkin in the NYT features Monbiot and Santer… and suggests the media is giving too much attention to those who try to cast a doubt on IPCC… Really since the NYT or the Globe and Mail or any other major newspaper I know virtually never chose an environmental story without AGW and its fearmongering, I really wonder where can any interested reader can read anything non alarmist in mainstream media? Any idea? These guys must be frustrated that despite their omnipresence, despite their constant pounding, the public does not believe them…
All these young people have no idea what their advocacy
is going to do to their families. They better remove all the
bumper stickers from their cars!
Wouldn’t you think that this type of favoritism for political votes would open up the legislation to legal challenge for equal protection under the law? It only puts those that don’t “pay to play” at a competitive disadvantage vs. those willing to sell their votes.
One of Waxman’s truly dopey statement came from an interview with Tavis Smiley recently:
“We’re seeing the reality of a lot of the North Pole starting to evaporate, and we could get to a tipping point. Because if it evaporates to a certain point – they have lanes now where ships can go that couldn’t ever sail through before. And if it gets to a point where it evaporates too much, there’s a lot of tundra that’s being held down by that ice cap.”
For the a scary view of who’s running our legislation, you can see and read the full interview here:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200904/20090413_waxman.html
This guy isn’t from Mars, he’s from Pluto
I know I’m exposing the Inner Geek in myself by posting a Spock Quote, but this one is pretty good. People like Rep Waxman want the power of Cap’n Trade SO BADLY, well…
SPOCK: “After a time, you may find that having is not so
pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical; but
it is often true.”
Andrew
“On the international level, the meeting in Copenhagen at the end of the year is incredibly important, it will lay down the road map on how we tackle climate change and who gets to be involved,” said Sam Johnston of Tokyo, Japan-based United Nations University, a co-sponsor of the summit.
“Climate change poses threats and dangers to the survival of indigenous communities worldwide, even though they contribute least to greenhouse emissions,” United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto said at the summit.
Who gets to play? Who gets a free ride while others pay?
Who actually believes they care about a few isolated Eskimo villages on the Alaskan seacoast at the expense of an entire nation?
It nothing but a game for the dealers, who make up the rules as they go along. The Pubs are skeptical, as I am sure they have been briefed on the consequences when the climate turns 180 degrees out from AGW models.
I’m off to the next WUWT topic, the Sun is far more important than these 24/7 shady deals.
I sent this to Rep. Bob Inglis of SC:
Dear Representative Inglis,
This article in the Washington Examiner, ( http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/To-get-votes-Waxman-offers-cap-and-trade-breaks_04_24-43592342.html ) describes a sad, unethical process by which our future is being bargained away.
I have serious issues with this, especially considering that a Climate Change skeptic was forbidden from testifying, and presenting a rather strong case that human induced catastrophic climate change may not be as certain as we are being led to believe by certain “experts”. Shutting down debate in the face of growing evidence that global warming has stalled defies the spirit of lawmaking, and is an outrage.
Quoting the piece:
“While Shimkus acknowledged that closed-door negotiating was “just a way of doing business” in Congress, he said offering emission allowances for votes may take the process beyond ethical boundaries.”
Please do not support cap and trade unless there is some sort of means of making it “budget neutral”, as you have described in the past.
Thank you for your consideration.
Henry Waxman:
That’s breathtakingly bad.
Mark 0454:
Glenn Reynolds had an entry relating to the “stimulus package” on January 23, 2009 and used the line “This is not so much a stimulus, as a massive transfer of wealth from the politically unconnected to the politically connected.”
I don’t know if he was the first one to say it quite like this, but he probably was.
Waxman bribes Mr. Gene Green but The Obama EPA plays ‘Dirty Harry’ on cap and trade. Do you feel lucky? is the question Dirty Harry asked before he used his gun.
I should say forget about these politics, let EPA try to establish regulation through the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and “GO TO COURT”, GO INTO THE STREETS, ORGANIZE TEA PARTIES AND GET RID OF THESE CRIMINALS ASAP.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124052921804450391.html
Interesting that Anthony employed the word bribe. I had just done so elsewhere. part of my response was….
Essentially bribing members with help for their district, the members then voting for legislation that they know in their heart is bad-dangerous-destructive to the nation as a whole.
NONE of this has anything to do with the climate or alternative energy. It is all about politics, power, and money.
Dem Congressman Dingle: ‘Nobody in This Country Realizes That Cap-and-Trade is a Tax’
Pelosi: Speaking to Bay Area reporters, Pelosi insisted she plans to hold a floor vote on a cap-and-trade bill before diplomats gather Dec. 7-18 at a U.N. conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, to work toward a new international climate change agreement.
“I believe we have to because we see that as a source of revenue,” Pelosi said, according to remarks published today in the San Francisco Chronicle. “Cap and trade is there for a reason.”
John A (16:34:14) :
Henry Waxman:
“We’re seeing the reality of a lot of the North Pole starting to evaporate, and we could get to a tipping point. Because if it evaporates to a certain point – they have lanes now where ships can go that couldn’t ever sail through before. And if it gets to a point where it evaporates too much, there’s a lot of tundra that’s being held down by that ice cap.”
That’s breathtakingly bad”.
Yes, this Waxman guy is a real Genius.
No wonder they did not allow Moncton to speak!
“The bill left out specifics on allowances ‘in order to be able to have discussions on how best to ease the transition for various geographical regions and ratepayers.’”
In other words, those that play ball and vote for the measure will be given favorable consideration when it comes time to pass out favors.
It sounds just like a scene from Atlas Shrugged as various factions negotiate for favorable language in government directives.
Those susceptible Dems better read Monckton’s letter. Michael Steele has mumbled about global cooling, and if the globe continues to cool(who here doubts that very much?) then this will be a potent issue in the coming year and a half.
===================================
Is it me or does Waxman look like a Dr. Suess character? Was there climate change in Who-ville?
Actually, maybe his persona is more of the evil Bond villian…
This is the inevitable result of a big government. It is the nature of the beast to take over the peasants life.
That is why the Constitution was written in an attempt to prevent big government.
Pelosi, Reid , Hopey Changey and the rest don’t stack up so well compared to Washington, Jefferson and Franklin.
Shawn:
We know what these clowns use the Constitution for.. and it ain’t ‘reading’.