Obama’s Cap and Trade Plan is Dead…For Now
Included in the president’s budget was a cap and tax trade plan that would have raised taxes on every single American. Do I even need to mention that this would be breaking his promises that he would only tax those making over $250,000 and that 95% of Americans would get a tax break under his plan? I didn’t think so. This is a huge part of the president’s agenda and willing Democrats, such as Harry Reid, were threatening to use, or should I say abuse, a political maneuver called reconciliation to require only a simple majority to vote on the cap and trade amendment in the budget.
Earlier in the week the idea of using reconciliation was voted down; every Republican and 26 Democrats voted against the idea of using reconciliation to vote on the cap and trade amendment in the budget. This means that cap and trade will need a 60 vote majority to pass and the votes are not there.
This week the president’s agenda was dealt a steep blow. Does this mean he is losing some of his political capitol? How is it possible that This Charming Man (to steal a song title from The Smiths) was not able to pass such a big part of his agenda if his capitol remains high? The shine must be coming off of the president’s political star, at least a little.
Cap and trade is dead….for now. We may have won this battle, but that is all that this was; a battle. The cap and traders are not going to go quietly away just because they lost this battle. They will re-energize and come back stronger than ever. We must not let them win, there is too much at stake.
As for the Democrats who voted against reconciliation, first let me say thank you and second; watch your back. Remember, the president is “keeping score.”
America's Watchtower 
Be careful what you wish for.
Absent cap-and-trade, the EPA is going to be regulating GHGs very soon under the Clean Air Act (EPA is more or less required to do this after the Supreme Court’s decision in 2007 and the EAB’s decision last Fall). It will be far preferable to most of the affected industries to have a cap-and-trade — with all its flexibility in terms of gradual reductions, technological flexibility, market mechanisms, and cheap offset possibilities — than EPA regulations. Every coal-fired plant has a lawsuit right now … years and years of expensive battles every time they want to bring a new one on-line (and no guarantee they will be prevail at the regulatory level, at the court level, or in the public relations arena). It’s gonna get worse with EPA regs.
Not only is cap-and-trade going to happen, we on the right need to stop fighting it. Instead we should be working to make it as less painful as possible for businesses. There are many aspects of the cap-and-trade system that have to be worked out, and it is foolish for us to not be involved in that debate.
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I refuse to believe that we should just give in abd accept this.
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We have got to do everything possible to stop it. There is absolutely no sound scientific research linking CO2 to Global Warming. Phony computer models, for sure.
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I agree, I don’t buy this notion that we have lost this argument and we are going to have to accept some legislation so we might as well work with them to make it less painful. I say we fight it tooth and mail and try to stop it. It is too important of an issue to just roll over on.
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I couldn’t agree with you more! And like you said, we can’t let our guard down either! What were people thinking on Election Day? They wanted change…
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This is not the time to lie down, this is the time to fight back. Sure we have been battered the last few years at the polls but that does not mean that you give up. We must fight for what we believe in.
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