February 9, 2010
A Senate Republican believes Democratic support for climate-change legislation is wavering after sponsors announced introduction of their cap-and-trade bill will be delayed until later in September.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said the delay was “emblematic of the division and disarray in the Democratic Party over cap-and-trade and health care legislation – both of which are big government schemes for which the public has expressed overwhelming opposition.”
Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and John Kerry, D-Mass., announced this week they had been given a time extension by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to complete their bill.
Boxer, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, cited numerous reasons for delaying the introduction, including the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the health care debate, and Kerry’s hip surgery last month.
The two senators are drafting a bill aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through a market in which companies could trade carbon credits.
However, Inhofe also pointed to a letter last month from 10 Democratic senators to President Obama telling him they could not support cap-and-trade legislation that did not protect U.S. industries from competition from countries that did not adopt similar climate-control restraints. All 10 were from industrial or coal-producing states.
The House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act on July 7 in a narrow 219-212 vote. Since then industry groups including truckers and steel importers have voiced strong opposition to the bill.
The National Association of Manufacturers said the bill would result in a $3.1 trillion loss in GDP, and cost the United States 2.4 million jobs by 2030.
“Cap-and-trade has pitted Democrat against Democrat,” Inhofe said. “As to just who will win this intra-party squabble, I put money down on those representing the vast majority of the American people, who are clear that cap-and-trade should be rationed out of existence.”
Contact R.G. Edmonson at bedmonson@joc.com.
And the reason anybody would listen to Inhofe on anything environmental would again be...what? Anyone? Anyone? As a leading climate change denier, his environmental credentials rival mine for quantum mechanics; they're non-existent.
Support for cap-and-trade has evaporated. Daily I read editorials, comments and letters-to-the-editor from all over the nation. Whereas when the House passed the bill it was maybe 2-to-1 against cap-and-trade, opinion now is off the charts against it. The Senate will be wise to bury this unpopular, complex and risky legislation.
-- Robert Moen
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