Unbelievable, Kerry & Lieberman introduce Cap & Trade today - UPDATE

UPDATE: Ron Johnson confirmed today he will run for US Senate against Russ Feingold! This is indeed great news for Conservatives in Wisconsin. I reminded Feingold of this fact when I called today asking him to vote NO on Cap and Trade. (See bottom of post.)

File this bill under Bad Bills & Ideas That Just Won't Die. (There are so many, one cannot get to them all.) Today, Senator Kerry and Lieberman are introducing Cap and Trade to the U.S. Senate. You know, the bill that all pronounced dead earlier this year--the one that didn't have a chance of passage this year. But you see, the issue is NOT capping carbon emissions to save the planet from Global Warming, the issue is taxing you more and controlling your life.

"The Senate bill would set up an emission trading program for utilities starting in 2013. Factories and other “industrial sources” would join the cap-and-trade program in 2016."

The bill proposes cutting greenhouse gases by 17% below their 2005 levels in 10 years. Never mind that CO2 has since been shown to have no affect on warming and that the planet has not been warming in the past 10 years.

Never mind that those involved in the Carbon Exchange, like U.W. Madison Prof. Joel Rogers admit that "it is all about the money and if we stopped ALL emissions in the U.S., it would make absolutely no difference". (My Emphasis throughout post)

It is estimated that this legislation will cost the average U.S. homeowner an extra $600 - $1,000/year on their utility bills. Wisconsin will be hit harder because so much of our electricity comes from coal fired plants.

This type of Cap and Trade legislation has already proven itself to be useless in controlling CO2 emissions and detrimental to the economies of Europe. You know, Europe, that is having their own economic woes?

Chris Horner from National Review sums this bill up as an opportunity to transfer wealth. He also points to the devastating effect of carbon taxing on Europe's economy: "I have a take on the lesson for us from Europe amid this debate over at Energy Tribune, written over the weekend but consistent with an emerging meme: we are willfully rushing headlong into the same debt, through the very same mandates, that has broken Europe. The system doesn’t work. And our political class doesn’t care. They’ve got a fundamental transformation to impose — as I describe in Power Grab. It’s not too late to learn their plan and their tricks."

In another piece from Energy Tribune, Today's Greece, Tomorrow's America: How Obama's Health Care and Energy Agendas Really End:

"The most troubling aspect of the West’s current policy turmoil is not the European meltdown led by Greece and Spain. It is instead President Barack Obama’s unflinching insistence on rushing America headlong into the very mandates, and resulting debt levels, that precipitated that meltdown."

"Obama is scripting a repeat of Europe’s disaster, here, by cramming down on the American people the same policy fetishes our Left has obsessed about for decades, and which Europe used to bring this down upon itself: statist management of health care and energy."

Our U.S. economy is hanging on by a thread. The CBO just came out with the report that ObamaCare could cost twice as much as originally thought: CBO Doubles Some Health Care Spending Estimates. Now our Senate is poised on adding another economy/job killer bill?

The House version knew Cap and Trade would adversely affect our economy. It even "included two years of unemployment assistance for workers who lose their jobs as a result of this 'jobs bill.' "

The CBO report on Cap and Trade affirms jobs would be lost: "The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has analyzed the research on the effects that policies to reduce greenhouse gases would have on employment and concluded that total employment during the next few decades would be slightly lower than would be the case in the absence of such policies. In particular, job losses in the industries that shrink would lower employment more than job gains in other industries would increase employment, thereby raising the overall unemployment rate."

We cannot afford "rising prices" or causing unemployed people to "face prolonged hardship" on top of our already rising inflation and high jobless numbers, yet this is what the Liberal Progressives in the Senate are proposing. But unless there is an outcry, similar to that of Wisconsinites against our Global Warming/Clean Energy Jobs bill, I am afraid we are headed toward more regulation, higher prices, and increased unemployment numbers.

Contact your Senators. Tell them America cannot afford this legislation. Find them here. In Wisconsin, we have Senator Herb Kohl - (202) 224-5653 and Russ Feingold - (202) 224-5323. Russ Feingold is very vulnerable this fall, especially if Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson enters the race this month, as expected. Like Wisconsin Senator Jim Sullivan, stiff competition just might get Russ to finally listen to his constituents! It certainly improved Sullivan's hearing.

More Reading: Business Week: U.S. Climate Bill Would Expand Oil Drilling, Cut CO2
National Review: Kerry-Lieberman Cap-and-Trade Bill Leaked
Energy Tribune: Today's Greece Tomorrow's America, How Obama's Health Care and energy Agendas Really End
CBO Economic and Budget Issue Brief
Crime Inc-Joel Rogers and the New Green Deal

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