Today in Washington D. C. - June 4, 2008
On The Floor: The Senate will take up the fiscal 2009 budget resolution conference report (S. Con. Res. 70) and will vote on passage of the budget after 15 minutes of debate. After the budget vote, the Senate will begin consideration of the carbon emission cap-and-trade bill (S. 3036). Around noon, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is expected to offer her 491-page substitute amendment, which will likely be the basis for debate.
From Senate & News Sources: Sen. Byron Dorgan was on to something when he told Newsweek that the bill is “in some ways, more complicated than” the Clintons’ 1993 health care reform proposals. Just how complicated is it? Power Line posted an illustrative chart yesterday from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pointing out the byzantine regulations and mandates in the bill.
GOP Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday said that the environment bill would raise gasoline prices at the beginning of the summer season and criticized the Democratic proposal as a backward solution to reducing prices at the pump. Today, gas prices at an average of $3.98 per gallon and Democrats are offering a bill that could raise gas prices by 50 cents a gallon. Of course, this comes on the heels of Democrats voting down GOP proposals to increase domestic oil & gas production.
Democrats claim that the cap-and-trade legislation provides for tax relief to offset the higher energy prices that Americans will face if their bill passes. Yesterday, Sen. Boxer said, “We have a huge tax cut [in this bill].” But there’s no actual tax relief in the climate bill. There’s simply a non-binding Sense of the Senate provision that says some funds “should be” used to protect consumers from the coming “increases in energy and other costs” Before Democrats get to their bill to raise energy prices on Americans, though, they’re first plan to pass their budget which would result in a $1.2 trillion tax increase since it does not renew President Bush’s tax cuts. Looks like it could be another day for Senate Democrats seeking to take a chunk out of family budgets through tax hikes and increases in the cost of energy.
Tags: cap-and-trade, tax increases, US Budget, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
From Senate & News Sources: Sen. Byron Dorgan was on to something when he told Newsweek that the bill is “in some ways, more complicated than” the Clintons’ 1993 health care reform proposals. Just how complicated is it? Power Line posted an illustrative chart yesterday from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pointing out the byzantine regulations and mandates in the bill.
GOP Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday said that the environment bill would raise gasoline prices at the beginning of the summer season and criticized the Democratic proposal as a backward solution to reducing prices at the pump. Today, gas prices at an average of $3.98 per gallon and Democrats are offering a bill that could raise gas prices by 50 cents a gallon. Of course, this comes on the heels of Democrats voting down GOP proposals to increase domestic oil & gas production.
Democrats claim that the cap-and-trade legislation provides for tax relief to offset the higher energy prices that Americans will face if their bill passes. Yesterday, Sen. Boxer said, “We have a huge tax cut [in this bill].” But there’s no actual tax relief in the climate bill. There’s simply a non-binding Sense of the Senate provision that says some funds “should be” used to protect consumers from the coming “increases in energy and other costs” Before Democrats get to their bill to raise energy prices on Americans, though, they’re first plan to pass their budget which would result in a $1.2 trillion tax increase since it does not renew President Bush’s tax cuts. Looks like it could be another day for Senate Democrats seeking to take a chunk out of family budgets through tax hikes and increases in the cost of energy.
Tags: cap-and-trade, tax increases, US Budget, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 10:30 AM - Post Link
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