legislation
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Q: Does a climate bill have to be bipartisan?
I’m updating my previous answer to this important and complicated question, but sticking with “no” for four reasons: 1. Against all evidence, conservative Republicans have simply refused to budge on the global warming issue (see “House GOP pledge to fight all action on climate. “Why do conservatives hate your children?”). They would rather destroy the […]
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House Republican leader continues to distort costs of cap-and-trade
As David noted yesterday, the figures Republicans are using to malign the cap-and-trade plan that Democrats put out this week are utterly, certifiably false. But that didn’t stop Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) from repeating them in yet another press release on Thursday. “Families and small businesses are struggling to get by, but the Democrats’ […]
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Myth: Climate policy is primarily about putting a price on carbon
Environmentalists and economists alike are obsessed with putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions, and with good reason: climate pollution is a classic “externality,” a cost paid not by polluters but by society at large. Pricing carbon internalizes that cost. The policy is “market-based” because it is agnostic toward particular practices, products, or technologies; the […]
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Senate susses out climate plan positions
As attention focused on the climate and energy bill unveiled by key House Democrats on Tuesday, the Senate quietly held a couple of votes that reveal a great deal about where that chamber stands on upcoming legislation. The first was a measure sponsored by Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). It inserts […]
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Responding to the “energy tax” attack
I’ll get more into the specifics of the Waxman/Markey bill in a bit, but first let’s address something lots of people have been asking me about these past few days: how to respond to Republican attacks that Dem energy/climate legislation constitutes an “energy tax” that will cost every American family 178 katrillion dollars every time […]
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In defense of the Dems’ One Big Bill energy/climate strategy
As Kate reported, Reps. Waxman and Markey have released a discussion draft of their American Clean Energy and Security (ACES, heh) Act. You can read Kate’s post for details, the full 600-page(!) text if you’ve got the nerve, or a summary. As far as I can tell, this didn’t get much media, which is peculiar, […]
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Republicans claim carbon bill impact on families that is off by — no kidding — 98%
So Republicans have been going around saying that Obama’s cap-and-trade program will cost every American household $3,128 a year. Wait, did I say cap-and-trade program? I mean “light switch tax.” Because you’ll pay a tax every time you turn on your light! Get it?! And so comes the latest wet burp from the rotting corpse […]
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Waxman-Markey bill gets a B+
House Energy and Commerce Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chair Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are releasing their long-awaited draft energy and climate bill today. Based on reports from a Committe debrief and an E&E Daily story this morning ($ub. req’d, excerpted below) and a Reuters story (here), I’ll give some first impressions. […]
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Republican budget has more pictures of windmills than charts of numbers
Last week, congressional Republicans rolled out their own alternative budget proposal [PDF] — but it doesn’t contain any actual hard numbers. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs points out that there are actually more pictures of windmills in the budget than charts of numbers:
