Waxman, Markey, and Inslee's argument

U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce of...
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Last week the House Energy & Power Subcommittee marked up H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act. Today, the full House Energy & Commerce Committee will mark up the bill.

Opponents, especially Reps. Waxman, Markey, and Inslee, viciously attacked the bill last Thursday. Their arguments are reviewed in detail at the blog GlobalWarming.Org.

The post concludes with this summary of the Waxman-Markey-Inslee argument as follows:

We know what is good for America and the world. It’s a future without fossil fuels. We can’t persuade the people’s representatives to support our agenda and turn it into law. Therefore, it is necessary for EPA to implement our agenda regardless of the defeat of cap-and-trade, the November 2011 elections, and the separation of powers. Our agenda is more important than any constitutional principle that might interfere with it.

The question on limiting of the breadth of power of the EPA to have control over the future of the United States energy policy is one of the most important debates of our time.

h/t to Marlo Lewis

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Alan Clark of Dirty Oil-berta
March 15, 2011 8:15 am

Uhhhh folks…. this is a somewhat sarcastic “summation” or paraphrasing of the Markley-Waxman-Inslee position. It’s not a direct quotation.

Keitho
Editor
March 15, 2011 8:18 am

BTW , just so’s you know . . Google “Waxman Markey Inslee and WUWT comes up as the first return.

David44
March 15, 2011 8:23 am

Come on guys. We may hate these guys’ agenda or even them, but none of them said what is in that summary paragraph. This is what Mr. Lewis’ thinks they think. He may even be right, but his inflammatory “summary” is over the top. Had he put quotes around it, either they would be guilty of treason, or he would be guilty of libel.

tom in indy
March 15, 2011 8:24 am

Let me frame this for you. Special interests control American politics. On the left, we have unions and on the right we have big oil. The right is trying to gain control of the debate by reducing union membership, dues and hence union campaign contributions. The left is trying to gut the oil industry for the same reason.
When we were young and naive, we believed that government served the people. Now that we are older and wiser, and the curtain has been pulled back, we see that government serves special interests.

RHS
March 15, 2011 8:28 am

I wish that would make the 5 o’clock news somewhere, anywhere. Can’t believe I have to visit this site for meaningful insight to politicians as well as science. Not that I mind really!

Pete H
March 15, 2011 8:31 am

“Our agenda is more important than any constitutional principle that might interfere with it.”
I would hope that the MSN and everyone who reads that will rise up to ensure that everyone can see what these people are like! 10/10 again!

Dan Lee
March 15, 2011 8:33 am

Wow, how’s that for a kill quote? Anyone who supports AGW and related legislation must now defend:
…implement our agenda regardless of:
-the defeat of cap-and-trade
-the November 2011 elections
-the separation of powers.
– the question, “Is your agenda more important than any constitutional principle that might interfere with?”
Answer yes to the above, and THEN let’s discuss global warming, in the context of what we intend to do about it besides adapt?

TomRude
March 15, 2011 8:33 am

Who bought their election campaign?

Frank K.
March 15, 2011 8:38 am

“We know what is good for America and the world. It’s a future without fossil fuels. We can’t persuade the people’s representatives to support [blah, blah, blah]…”
Actually, this statement is no different than a concluding statement in a typical NASA GISS (or similar) climate journal paper. It could have been written by any of our manic CAGW climate heroes…

March 15, 2011 8:39 am

To Jay,
No. They did not actually say that. However, it is a relatively accurate summary interpretation of a lot of “politically correct” speaking.

James Sexton
March 15, 2011 8:41 am

Jaye Bass says:
March 15, 2011 at 8:12 am
Hang on now, did they actually say that?
=========================================
No, the summation was done by Marlo Lewis. It seems some here are missing this detail. Even so, I believe the summation to be a correct assessment of their position.

rbateman
March 15, 2011 8:43 am

The summary smacks of self-coronation (they have a full tank of Green Energy gas, plenty of GCM cigarettes, and are on a Mission from GAIA).

ferd berple
March 15, 2011 8:43 am

“Our agenda is more important than any constitutional principle that might interfere with it.”
The EPA policy is being enacted by the President of the United States. He has made this very clear in his public statements. He knows best what is right for the country. Congress and the People have it wrong.
Waxman, Markey, and Inslee are showing their loyalty to the President through their actions. Their statements reflect the President’s policy on this matter. The People and Congress need to start doing as they are told.

MarkW
March 15, 2011 8:43 am

“Therefore, it is necessary for EPA to implement our agenda regardless of the defeat of cap-and-trade, the November 2011 elections,”
Whoa there, they already know who’s going to win in this years elections?

pat
March 15, 2011 8:44 am

These scientific illiterates have been bullying others for years. To them science is just an excuse to further their bizarre need to have every American and every American institution conform to leftist Utopian ideal. They are painfully ignorant on virtually every matter of which they effusively opine. Being unaware that the talking points fed to them by the Warmists, Greenpeace, The Sierra Club, etc are just that: Talking points. Not facts.

March 15, 2011 8:52 am

tom in indy says:
“Let me frame this for you. Special interests control American politics. On the left, we have unions and on the right in the center we have big oil.”
Fixed it for you.
“Big oil” can be you. Just buy stock in Exxon-Mobil and you can collect the dividends as an owner. “Right” is used as a pejorative, indicating an extremist, when it is always the Left that is extreme Big Government supporters.
It’s always irritating to se anyone try to demonize an honest, law abiding company that provides a necessary product. Don’t like ’em? Then don’t buy their products. There are always bicycles. Avoid anything made of plastic. And of course, don’t buy food that uses commercial fertilizer.
You don’t want to be a hypocrite, right?
But I do agree that special interests own the government – and disreputable carreer politicians like Waxman and Markey. Unions take members’ dues, give it [97%] to the Democrat Party, and in return get self-serving laws passed that extract money from non-union workers and hand it over to union members to pay them far in excess of their market skills. It’s a caste system, with the low caste taxpayers paying excessive salaries, benefits and pensions to the gilded upper caste unions.

CRS, Dr.P.H.
March 15, 2011 8:54 am

Our agenda is more important than any constitutional principle that might interfere with it.
OK, now, where did I leave that musket?
Absolutely outrageous. However, I’m glad they blew the cover off of their agenda for all to see. Cockroaches hate nothing more than bright light. They will come to regret that they ever uttered those words.

Editor
March 15, 2011 9:01 am

Folks, Waxman, Markey and Inslee did NOT make that statement. It was a “summary” by the blogger, his interpretation of what the Democrats meant by their arguments. It is a somewhat over-the-top statement and I think Representatives Waxman, Markey and Inslee would reject that formulation and be horrified at the sentiment…. even if it is not that far off the mark.

Snotrocket
March 15, 2011 9:05 am

Anthony, it may be a fair summation, and I’m sure it represents the spirit of warmism, however I think it would have played a lot more ethically – for those who did not bother to read the link in GlobalWarming.org – if you had included Marlo Lewis’s first line of the summary: “I would summarize the core premise of Waxman, Markey, and Inslee’s opposition to H.R. 910 as follows:”
That said, I am entirely comfortable with the idea that wanting to bypass government with the EPA is the sort of idea that these democrats want to see.

March 15, 2011 9:08 am

tom in indy says:
March 15, 2011 at 8:24 am says: “on the right we have big oil”
Do just a little research on just which political party receives the most contributions from oil companies. You’ll obviously not be pleased with what you find.

oakgeo
March 15, 2011 9:15 am

Smokey March 15, 2011 at 8:52 am says:
It’s a caste system, with the low caste taxpayers paying excessive salaries, benefits and pensions to the gilded upper caste unions.
I certainly seems to have come to this. Unions, although historically instrumental in improving conditions across the board for workers, now benefit only themselves. Think of all the GM bondholders who lost big while the UAW was saved from making any substantive concessions.

Joel Shore
March 15, 2011 9:27 am

Our agenda is more important than any constitutional principle that might interfere with it.

I’m a little confused about what the Constitutional principle is that Waxley, Markey, and Inslee are claimed to be wanting to ignore. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled back in 2007 that the EPA had the authority to regulate CO2 from cars under the Clean Air Act: http://miratechcorp.com/site/miratech/section/140 and in fact the duty to do so or to provide an explanation for not doing so.
Last time that I checked, the Supreme Court was the branch of government charged with interpreting both our laws and our Constitution. The Republicans in Congress certainly have the right to try to limit the EPA’s authority (since that authority is provided by statute, not innate Constiutional right). However, the Democrats in the Senate and the Democrat in the White House also have the right to try to block any such law, which is what they are doing.

Philip Peake
March 15, 2011 9:29 am

Those statements sound suspiciously close to treason to me.

Jaye Bass
March 15, 2011 9:29 am

James Sexton says:
March 15, 2011 at 8:41 am
No, the summation was done by Marlo Lewis. It seems some here are missing this detail. Even so, I believe the summation to be a correct assessment of their position.

I absolutely agree with your last statement. However, lets deal with the facts and debate from there.

Steve Keohane
March 15, 2011 9:47 am

From the Way-Back machine, 4/26/09, “Waxman’s Stunningly Stupid Statement”
“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..” juxtaposed with We know what is good for America and the world. The inmates are indeed in charge of the asylum.
link: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/26/quote-of-the-week-5-waxmans-stunningly-stupid-statement/
Inspired this take on Waxman and his ilk’s effectiveness at saving the arctic.
http://i44.tinypic.com/2062dk0.jpg

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