Call Senators! Can voters' ire dampen US Senate's Cap-and-Trade Tax Vote?

While evidence mounts that the planet is NOT warming, the US House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade (Tax) Bill anyway, by just 5 votes. The Cap-and-Trade Tax bill then went to the US Senate.

According Ben Lieberman's testimony before the Senate Republican Conference ,

"Cap-and-trade is very expensive and amounts to nothing more than an energy tax in disguise. After all, when you sweep aside all the complexities of how cap and trade operates--and make no mistake, this is the most convoluted attempt at economic central planning this nation has ever attempted--the bottom line is that cap and trade works by raising the cost of energy high enough so that individuals and businesses are forced to use less of it. Inflicting economic pain is what this is all about. That is how the ever-tightening emissions targets will be met."

The Cap-and-Trade Tax bill will hurt energy consumers--that means us. Because the bill includes new taxes on electricity producers (oil, coal, natural gas), oil refiners (gasoline, diesel fuel etc.) and natural gas, virtually no one is immune from the higher energy prices and restrictions that will result.

Since many businesses are already struggling just to stay afloat during the recession, I cannot imagine what adding additional energy costs to their bottom lines will do. Many households are also struggling just to pay their mortgages and bills--especially if the head of the household is unemployed. What is the Congress thinking? All of these higher energy producer costs will be passed onto us.

Those cost estimates vary, but The Heritage Foundation has given us the following glimpse of energy prices once Cap-and-Tax takes effect in 2012:

"For a household of four, energy costs go up $436 that year, and they eventually reach $1,241 in 2035 and average $829 annually over that span. Electricity costs go up 90 percent by 2035, gasoline by 58 percent, and natural gas by 55 percent by 2035. The cumulative higher energy costs for a family of four by then will be nearly $20,000."

That translates to almost $3,000/year average from 2012 - 2035. By the time we hit 2035, the annual cost estimate is over $4,600! With those kind of cost of living increases, will the baby boomers ever be able to retire?

Well, there goes the college fund, home improvement project, the family vacation or just being able to live at your present level of income.

Our only defense is to CALL our US Senators. (Calls are more effective than emails.) I know we have 2 Senators that are not very responsive to our pleas, but even Gov. Doyle and Sen. Jim Sullivan seemed to be influenced a bit by negative voter outcry. Plus, if you take the time to call, I think you will stay more engaged in the issues. My real hope lies in those US Senators who are facing reelection, but I will do my part with Sen. Kohl and Feingold just the same. I hope you will too.

US Senate Members

Senator Herb Kohl: (202) 224-5653, Senator Russ Feingold: (202) 224-5323

More reading: Global Warming Is A Fraud by David Deming, Geophysicist

The Economic Impact of the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Bill, Ben Lieberman's testimony before the Senate Republican Conference

Representative Jim Ott's Hot Air Reports:

Hot Air Report #13: Why Cap and Trade is a Failure Waiting to Happen (5/26/2009)

Hot Air Report #14: Cap and "Tax," Let's Call it What it Really is (6/2/2009)

Hot Air Report #15: Climate “Calamities” vs. Reality (6/19/2009)

Hot Air Report #16: Call to Action: Cap and Tax Passes the House (6/30/2009)

Links:
Practically Speaking, Fairly Conservative, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, CNS News, Jay Weber, Mark Levin, Vicki McKenna Jay Weber, The Right View Wisconsin, The Heritage Foundation