Cap and Trade
Floor Speech
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Mrs. BACHMANN. I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Akin) for yielding.
I also am delighted to be a part of this discussion on solutions. As Mr. Bishop rightly stated, there are two approaches that we are taking to America's energy solutions, and as Mr. Latta stated, we are a Nation that is filled with resources. And I am called to mind by one of our founders, you may say, of our Nation, one of the greatest orators of his time and really all of American history, Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster made a statement, and I paraphrase: Should we not recall the resources that we have been given in this land that are extraordinary, unparalleled across the world, and shouldn't we call forth those resources that we've been given to generate something wonderful in our time?
I had the privilege of serving in the Minnesota State Senate. We had that quote stenciled around our beautiful rotunda, the Minnesota State Senate chamber. And as Mr. Latta stated, we have 25 percent of the world's coal. We have unlimited resources as far as nuclear power generation goes, as far as hydropower, solar, wind, but yet also natural gas, oil. All of the known reserves that we have, the United States manages to use those resources more efficiently, more cleanly than perhaps any other nation on the planet. Rather than this being one of the most expensive sources of manufacturing in the United States, energy could be one of the cheapest sources of manufacturing components. And yet the United States could be one of the leading exporters of this wonderful resource, energy. So shouldn't it be, as Daniel Webster said, that we should call forth these resources that have been given to us with the greatest benefit that we have, American ingenuity?
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Mrs. BACHMANN. I had also heard the gentleman speak last week who wrote the report on Spain, and this is the country that the President holds up as being the country we should emulate. And as the gentleman from Missouri rightly stated, 17.5 percent rate of unemployment; the largest, highest unemployment rate of all the developing countries in the world, on their way to 20 percent unemployment.
And as the gentleman from Utah stated, there is 2.2 percent job loss for every job created. But the critical fact is that every job created, every green job, costs the country of Spain $770,000 per job, and these are not sustainable jobs. They are primarily installing and building windmills and solar panels.
Once the installation is complete, the job goes away. That's a very expensive investment for Spain. They are only going in the direction of further increased unemployment, not in the direction of decreased unemployment.
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Mrs. BACHMANN. Well, American manufacturing has been at a competitive disadvantage for years. I'm a former Federal tax litigation attorney. America has the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world, at 34 percent.
Now the Federal Government is proposing to tie a cement block onto American manufacturing that would be extremely difficult to overcome. One thing that we need to consider are the corruption influences that come from manufacturers all trying to fight over scraps, you might say, of permits.
Originally, the President said there would be no permits that would be auctioned off to any industry. Now what we're seeing here in the House is that certain industries, certain fossil fuel-based industries are saying, We can't survive unless we have some kind of a free pass.
And so now we're hearing of backroom deals that are happening, where different industries are given free passes. All of this adds up to the American people smelling something is rotten in this deal of the cap-and-tax system,
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Mrs. BACHMANN. The problem is the American taxpayer, just as the banking system, the financial system, and now with energy, government is creating a problem where we don't have a problem. Government is creating a false economy where they don't have to do this. This is all to benefit governments coffers--not to benefit the American people, not to lower their energy tax bill, not to create more jobs when, just as Mr. Bishop said, we could take a completely different route.
My State of Minnesota, Mr. Latta's State of Ohio will be hit especially hard with this cap-and-tax system. Why burden those who are least able to afford it--senior citizens, people who, in Minnesota, you don't have a choice. You have to turn on the furnace come October.
This will be devastating to our economy, and we could have a completely different answer that would bring more money, bring more jobs by opening up all of America's energy resources.
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