The Real Cost of Cap-And-Trade Legislation

Floor Speech

THE REAL COST OF CAP-AND-TRADE LEGISLATION -- (House of Representatives - April 23, 2009)

(Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, this week, House Democrats begin hearings on so-called ``cap-and-trade'' legislation. It is their legislative response to concerns over global climate change. Even former Vice President Al Gore will testify tomorrow here on Capitol Hill. But as many around the country and in this body are realizing, there are a lot of inconvenient truths about the cap-and-trade bill.

The Democrat plan actually caps growth and trades jobs, and the truth is this cap-and-trade legislation is essentially an economic declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals in Washington, D.C., and it must be opposed.

Under the Democratic plan, estimates suggest the average American household could face more than $3,000 a year in higher energy costs, and people in the Midwest, like us in Indiana, will bear the largest burden. Even the President, as candidate, said, ``Under my plan of cap-and-trade, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.'' We can only estimate these numbers, Mr. Speaker, because the Democratic plan includes no numbers.

The truth is the American people deserve to know what all this is going to cost. The Democrats and the Congress need to come clean about the cost of their cap-and-trade bill, and when they do, this Congress and the American people will reject it.

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