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    Dingell joins Republicans in calling cap-and-trade an ‘energy tax’

    It’s not just Republicans who are calling a cap-and-trade program a tax. “Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax, and a great big one,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said at last Friday’s hearing with Al Gore on the House climate bill. Dingell, who until last November chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee, […]

  • Debate on climate bill delayed until next week

    Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), authors of the draft climate bill in the House that was hotly debated last week, announced on Monday that they will wait until next week to offer the bill up for amendments. That process had originally been planned to take place in the Energy and Environment Subcommittee […]

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    Rep. Michele Bachmann says CO2 is ‘a natural byproduct of nature’

    We’ve heard Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) rant about cap-and-trade in the past. Last week, on Earth Day, she attempted a scientific explanation of why carbon dioxide is not a problem. “Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of nature!” she said. Carbon dioxide is natural. It occurs in Earth. It is a part of the regular […]

  • Gore and Gingrich bump heads at House climate hearing

    Debate on the House climate bill got heated on Friday as Al Gore and Newt Gingrich — two lightning-rod political figures — testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee. Gingrich came crying foul that Congress is poised to begin regulating Jacuzzis, while Gore – you guessed it! –testified to the urgent need to pass an […]

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    Tennessee rep accuses Gore of trying to profit from climate bill

    One of the more, uh, interesting moments from Friday’s climate hearings in the House was this exchange between Al Gore and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who suggested that Gore would profit from a cap-and-trade bill. Here’s the video, via TPM, and a transcription follows: Blackburn: I think it’s really important that no suspicion or shadow […]

  • Interest groups pile on with suggested changes to House climate bill

    The third day of climate hearings in the House made it clear that even representatives and interest groups that nominally support the principles of the Markey-Waxman bill have a laundry list of changes they’d like to see made to the bill before they’ll back it. Thursday’s hearings brought 26 new witnesses before the Energy and […]

  • Finding consensus on climate policy

    Originally posted at the Breakthrough Institute. For advocates of immediate and strong climate and clean energy legislation, there’s one man we should all be paying close attention to: Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Senator Brown is one of several Democratic Senators from America’s “Heartland” states that form the critical swing block of legislators that will need […]

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    Progressive coalition spends $250,000 on ads for a green energy bill

    A coalition of labor, environmental, and progressive groups is putting up a quarter of a million dollars for a TV ad campaign promoting national clean-energy and climate legislation. The ad (watch it below), which will air on national cable and prime-time network TV for at least the next week, calls on Congress to pass an […]

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    Rep. Shimkus says climate bill is worse than two wars and terrorist attack

    Via ThinkProgress, here’s video of Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) claiming at Wednesday’s House hearing that the Waxman-Markey climate bill is “largest assault on democracy and freedom in this country that I’ve ever experienced. I’ve lived through some tough times in Congress — impeachment, two wars, terrorist attacks. I fear this more than all of the […]