A leading group of manufacturers is telling lawmakers to vote against a bill that seeks to roll back taxes on oil companies and institute a windfall profits tax.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) said that Consumer First- Energy Act, being pushed by Senate Democrats, would lead to higher energy costs, fewer energy supplies, a weakened domestic energy industry and more job losses for U.S. factory workers.
"American manufacturers already face a 31.7 percent cost disadvantage when compared to our major trading partners," according to an NAM release. "This bill would drive the cost disadvantage even higher, putting quality American jobs at risk."
The group added that it would consider any votes on procedural motions that moves the bill forward as support for the bill itself.
Democratic Sens. Harry Reid (Nev.), Max Baucus (Mont.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Jeff Bingaman (N.M.) and Byron Dorgan (N.D.), in addition to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have been pushing for measure.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) railed against "unprecedented Republican filibustering" that has delayed the debate over a climate change bill.
Though senators from both parties agreed Monday to proceed with debate over the bill, which calls for mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions, Reid said that Republicans had tried legislative maneuvers to stall the measure.
Republicans, who worry that the bill will lead to more energy costs, had asked for 30 hours of debate before the amendment process could begin.
"Republicans have every opportunity to debate this bill in public and to negotiate in private," Reid said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. "They have always been welcome to come to us with ideas for compromise. Their legislative right -- and obligation -- is to argue and cajole in an effort to convince our members to join their side."
Reid continued: "But the unprecedented Republican filibustering we've seen renders the legislative process impossible. Their only goal seems to be running out the clock -- like a basketball team with a lead in the fourth quarter. The only difference is Republicans don't have the lead. They may think that they are scoring political points, but they are leaving our country to suffer."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his Republican colleagues likened the climate change bill now before the Senate to a tax hike.
McConnell, who opposes the bill along with other GOP senators, pointed to a federal study by the federal Environmental Protection Agency that said that the measure would raise gas prices by 53 cents. The bill seeks to place mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions.
"With gas prices being the number-one issue in America, they bring up a bill... that objective analysis concludes it's going to raise gas taxes 53 cents," he said. "We're happy for this debate. We're thrilled about it. I've never seen my members so excited in recent times over getting out on the floor and talking about a really, really bad proposal."
The bill is being pushed by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.). Many Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.), also back it.
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), appearing with McConnell, said that the $6.7 million price tag for the bill, which proposes funding for research and development of new energy sources, won't be paid by energy companies.
"It's going to be passed right through to you and me as consumers," Bond said. "Whether the bill sponsors admit that their bill is a hidden tax hike or not, we know it will hurt families and workers. We know, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. And that is a tax hike."
Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros said that "fundamental" underlying factors such as global warming are contributing to record oil prices.
Soros, testifying before a Senate committee hearing on the manipulation of energy markets, said that speculation in oil trading has helped increase energy costs by distorting "the otherwise prevailing balance between supply and
Former Vice President Al Gore is praising Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) for her work on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill, which is now being debated in the Senate.
"I want to commend Senator Boxer for her leadership of the Environment and Public Works Committee," Gore said in a statement yesterday. "Thanks to her vision and dedication, we have the first global warming bill in history that is comprehensive, bipartisan and that enjoys support across the country -- from labor and agriculture to the business and the environmental communities. Of course the bill needs to be stronger, but it's vital that Congress begin to act. While it's important that people change their light bulbs, it's even more important that we change the laws."
Boxer chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
President Bush argued against the cap-and-trade climate change proposal the Senate is debating Monday, calling it a "huge spending bill fueled by taxes."
Bush, in remarks to the press about the economy and tax cuts, said that the bill being pushed by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) would cost about $6 trillion, a price tag too high for the U.S. economy.
"You know, there's a much better way to address the environment than imposing these costs on the job creators, which will ultimately have to be borne by American consumers," Bush said. "I urge the Congress to be very careful about running up enormous costs for future generations of Americans."He continued: "We'll work with the Congress, but the idea of a huge spending bill fueled by taxes increases isn't the right way to proceed. And the right way for Congress to proceed on taxes in general is to send a clear message that these tax relief we passed need to be made permanent."
The Warner-Lieberman bill calls for specific caps on greenhouse gas emissions by industries. It also proposes a system through which companies could buy and sell credits that allow them to give off emissions.
Most Americans want oil released from U.S. reserves and for oil companies to drill in protected areas, according to a poll released by Gallup.
The poll found that 58 percent of Americans want oil released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while 57 percent want Congress to allow oil companies to drill in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas now off limits.
Republicans in Congress are now pushing a plan, unveiled last week, to lower gas prices, which includes both releasing oil from the strategic reserve and expanding drilling rights for oil companies.
The poll surveyed over 1,000 Americans aged 18 or older. See the results below.
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As Congress fights over who is to blame for high gas prices, and passes bills seeking to address the issue, a new poll has found that few Americans have faith that the price will drop or even stay the same.
According to a new Rasmussen poll, 71 percent of American adults think gasoline will reach $5 per gallon by the end of the summer, while 21 percent said it is unlikely that gas will reach the $5 mark. Rasmussen surveyed 1,000 adults by phone on May 21 and 22.
The House moved May 20 to create a Department of Justice task force to investigate foreign and domestic oil companies for potential price gouging and conspiracy to alter market prices. The House also passed a bill, with the goal of lowering the price of oil, calling on President Bush to stop purchasing oil to deposit in the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve. Republicans have blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for high gas prices, dubbing recent increases the "Pelosi Premium."
The Club for Growth says it will begin airing television and radio ads today in Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Montana opposing the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill.
The ads will call on Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to vote against the legislation when the Senate considers it next.
Sens. John Warner (R-Va.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced the legislation in 2007 to direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a program to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. The Club for Growth says the bill's proposals to limit those emissions would be disastrous for the economy. See one of the television ads below:
Ten state treasurers and comptrollers plus asset managers for investment firms--a group controlling $2.3 trillion--are calling on Senate leaders to pass legislation that addresses climate change.
The group includes the global head of asset management for Deutsche Bank, the global head of corporate responsibility for the Man Group (the world's largest publicly traded hedge fund operator),
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