Issue Position: Cap And Trade

Issue Position

To provide an idea of how committed some in Congress are to cap-and-trade and how little they are concerned about its economic impact, consider the fact that House Republicans offered an amendment to the Democrat's cap-and-trade bill that would have sunset the bill if in any 12-month period residential electricity rates rose by more than 10 percent. The amendment failed essentially on a party-line vote.

One economic analysis of the cap-and-trade bill estimated 2 million jobs will be lost each year through 2030.

Hardest hit sectors of the economy include construction, manufacturing, transportation equipment and wood products.

Also hard hit by the bill is the agriculture sector which we all know is critical to Idaho's economy.

The bill simply sends more industry and more jobs overseas to places with substantially worse environmental standards -- therefore, it is a global loss for the environment and a catastrophic blow to our economy.

Another analysis of the bill looked at its impact on energy costs (heritage foundation). That study found that by 2035, cap-and-trade would raise electricity rates by 90 percent, gasoline prices by 58 percent, natural gas prices by 55 percent, and the federal deficit by over $28,000 by person.

Most shockingly, even if we did all of this and actually reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 83 percent by 2050, we would only see a temperature reduction of nine one-hundredths of a degree Fahrenheit.

There is simply no justification for imposing this enormous energy tax on the American people and subjecting our economy to the devastation this legislation would surely create.

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