Cap-N-TradeTax Follies

Though ObamaKennedyDeathCare is certainly the biggest news going around right now, another issue is almost as bad: cap-n-tax.  This is the Left's attempt to force energy prices higher in order to control who does what, where they do it, and how they get there.

So what's the latest?


Heritage supplies the answer:

According to The New York Times/ClimateWire, there is a new version of the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade legislation. For those keeping track, that makes no less than five different versions in just 36 days. Let us recap:

September 29 – 684-page draft version
September 30 – 801-page updated draft version
September 30 – 821-page bill, as introduced
October 23 – 925-page chairman’s mark
November 3 – 959-page updated chairman’s mark

As we discussed earlier, there is a need for transparency in this debate and a full understanding of the economic consequences of such legislation. The 959-page version reported in the press today cannot be found on the committee’s website.

Of course, according to committee rules, the text of the bill has to be available for 72 hours before markup can occur.  As is typical with liberals, Boxer is pushing the markup despite that small detail.

Now comes the interesting part.  In an attempt to stall this thing from being voted out of committee without even seeing the text or having any idea what it would cost the American people, the Republicans on the committee refused to show up, thus preventing a quorum and essentially killing all progress on the bill.  So what does Boxer do?


She threatens to proceed without the Republicans:

According to CQ Politics:

Because two members of the minority party must attend in order for a markup to proceed, Boxer has scheduled a “committee business meeting” — an apparent procedural gambit designed to allow work without a GOP quorum.

At the moment, Senator Boxer seems intent on moving forward without a comprehensive economic analysis, which means she will move without Republican participation and potentially run afoul of committee rules, which state:

BUSINESS MEETINGS: At committee business meetings, and for the purpose of approving the issuance of a subpoena or approving a committee resolution, one third of the members of the committee, at least two of whom are members of the minority party, constitute a quorum, except as provided in subsection (d).

Boxer and her staff appeared to have latched on to the exception provided in subsection (d), which states:

(d) REPORTING: No measure or matter may be reported to the Senate by the committee unless a majority of committee members.

One reading of the committee’s rules is that this exception would allow Boxer to pass the bill out of committee. However, it would preclude amending the legislation in committee which may alienate some of the committee’s moderate Democrats who are uneasy with many of the bill’s provisions. Alternatively, as chair, Boxer could interpret the rules to mean amendments could be debated and voted upon even without participation of the minority. Both scenarios have been described as “nuclear” and “toxic.”

The American people should be very concerned how this process is playing out. Much like the debate over health care reform, the Senate is engaging in an opaque process and may very well trounce the rights of the minority.

Should, yes.  But being opaque and trouncing the rights of the minority seems to be standard process these days.


There's my two cents.