Baucus balks at climate change legislation

Last weekend we decided to start giving some time to Cap and Trade which, if passed, would raise everyone's utility bills. Now we have the Democrat head of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen Baucus (D-MT) not supporting the House bill in its current form. Republicans and a lot of Democrats knew the bill was bad but Speaker Pelosi wanted it passed and eight naive (being kind) Republicans voted with them. Why? No one seems to know.

The one major flaw in the House Cap and Trade bill is that no one including the Democrats were given time to read the bill before it came up for a vote. House Minority Leader Boehner took to the House floor to read parts of the bill they received the night before.

We The People do not believe that is the way for Congress to take action -- ram things through that no one reads but then we have members of Congress saying it is too complicated to understand. If they are having bills written that are too complicated to understand, then the people writing the bills are doing it on purpose so they can get their agenda passed or members of Congress have a reading comprehension. Either way it is not right that We The People do not have time to read and comments on bills before they are passed.

Guess you could say that Obama's promise to make bills available for comment before he signs them was another lie during his campaign. Lies keep piling up and even Democrats are beginning to question what is happening.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Baucus balks at climate change legislation
Cites 'reservations' over 2020 target and powers granted EPA
By Edward Felker

A key Democratic senator said Tuesday that he could not support the Senate's global warming bill in its current form, even as President Obama praised the legislation and Democrats moved to push it through committee.

Sen. Max Baucus, Montana Democrat, said at the start of a series of hearings in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that he had "serious reservations" about the climate change bill's target of a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. He also said the bill should not allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions.

Mr. Baucus, who also chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, became the first Democrat on the panel to object to the bill, which was released Friday in revised form by committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, California Democrat.

The Senate bill is stricter than a companion climate bill narrowly passed by the House in June. The House bill requires large carbon dioxide emitters, primarily power plants and factories, to reduce emissions by 17 percent by 2020. The House bill would also bar the EPA from regulating carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Both bills call for the same long-term goal: a reduction in emissions of about 80 percent by 2050, achieved through a "cap-and-trade" system. The system could mandate reductions based on declining annual emissions limits and require polluters to obtain permits through a government auction or from other polluters.

Excerpt: For Full Story See Washington Times