Up until now, I’ve been avoiding the big issues that are currently being tackled by Congress: Health Care, Energy, and the Economy. I prefer to work with issues that are funny by nature, and of course, none of those issues are particularly humorous. In fact, they’re just darn right big, ugly, and complicated. However, since Congress will be taking a month long recess in August, but I’m not planning on recessing from blogging, I’m saving the really funny (disturbing) stuff for when congress goes on vacation.
So, this week, let’s talk about H.R. 2454, popularly known as the Cap and Trade Energy Bill. The bill already passed the House of Representatives in a 219-212 vote (yikes, that was a close one!), and is now under consideration by the Senate. If the bill does pass the Senate, you better believe that it won’t be the same Cap and Trade Bill passed by the House. The Senate will add its own amendments and take out language included in the House bill that they don’t like. If that version of the bill passes, a group of congressional staffers (I’ve never been really clear on who these people are) get together and reconcile the two versions of the bill.
As it stands now, the bill would impose a nationwide cap on greenhouse gases and require public utilities to produce at least 12% (according to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_governors), although it’s 20% according to http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:1:./temp/~bdo5ad:@@@L&summ2=m&/bss/111search.html, by 2020. The bill also sets up a trading market for business to buy and sell permits to pollute. Companies that need fewer permits can sell them to companies that need more.
Wow, that sounds like not such a bad idea, Congress! It almost sounds like, by treating pollution as a tangible good, Congress is going to let the free market solve the problem. So why so many votes against it?
The U.S. agriculture industry will go down in flames! Just kidding! Actually, according to the USDA, although the projected loss to farmers overall is between 1 and 7.2 percent, the money that they’ll earn under the program doing things like capturing methane gas from manure ponds, planting trees, or practicing no-till farming will earn them $75-$100 million per year starting in 2012 to $15-$20 billion per year in 2040.
It’ll be terrible for the economy! Unless you live in Washington, New Jersey or Colorado where measures already adopted to reduce greenhouse gases and standards requiring a certain amount of energy from renewable resources have already created new industries and more jobs in those states. In Washington, almost 50,000 new jobs have been created in the last two years as a result (including architects who design energy-efficient buildings, venture capitalists investing in new technology, and farmers growing the next generation of biofuels).
At the same Senate hearing where the Governors from Washington, New Jersey, and Colorado praised the bill, the Governor from North Dakota, a Representative from Arkansas, and a Senator from Oklahoma disagreed. Why? Oil. Duh. Now, I’m not going to argue, the bill could conceivably cause job losses in the oil industry, but I don’t see any reason why those job losses couldn’t turn into new, green jobs. It’s not like people can’t learn to do new things. Also, I must point out that our friend, the Rep from Arkansas, John Lowery (D-AR) owns his own oil company, Lowery Oil Co. Seriously? Can we say, conflict of interest? (Am I the only one who has a problem with the fact that the owner of an oil company, or any company, is allowed to be a representative in Congress?)
Of course, let’s not let the rest of Congress off the hook quite so easily either. Heaven forbid, the House pass a bill without shooting themselves in the foot. A last minute addition to the Cap and Trade Bill included a tariff provision which will levy a tax on all goods imported from countries that do not limit greenhouse gases (which includes almost every country on the planet, and you better believe they’ll more than likely tax our exports right back).
Yeesh.
If you want to learn more about this crazy legislative process and the big, bad filibuster, come out to Campbell’s Sundown Cinema this Friday, July 24th for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington! http://www.downtowncampbell.com/sundowncinema
Totally unrelated, check out the best, and most random, mash-up of two songs I’ve ever seen at http://acollectionofwords.blogspot.com!
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Nice work. I enjoy reading this blog of yours... keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI think these congress people get away (and hide) their investments (and interests) by putting them in a "blind" trust. Interesting name, I would say.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Frist, former Leader of the Senate (W. Bush administration), and family owns Humana, major owners of many many hospitals. How can this person legitimately legislate anything having to do with health care? I maintain that he cannot.
John Lowery, probably has his oil company in a blind trust, as well.
"Let's throw ALL the bums out!"
I agree, blind trusts are far less helpful than the public seems to believe. While working on my Ethics test to get my CPA, I learned that auditors can't have any direct investment in any of their immediate cliets even if the investment is put in a blind trust.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't we suject our representatives to the same standards as auditors??