Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Cap And Trade Bill 2009 HR 2454 Passed, So What Does That Mean?
Share:
by Amy Judd | June 27, 2009 at 10:28 am
30864 views | 33 Recommendations | 65 comments
The Cap and Trade Bill 2009 was passed in the U.S Senate on Friday, but what does that mean for the average American family? This 'green energy revolution climate bill' has already created a lot of debate from both the Republicans and the Democrats, and it will certainly affect America's economic condition.
It was a close vote to get the bill passed even: 219 voted for the bill and 211 voted against it, while only three people abstained from voting.
What is the cap and trade bill?
It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and create some 'green' jobs, by putting a limit on the amout of pollution large industrial industries can output, and then if they go above that, they have to buy pollution permits.
If some companies don't need all that they are allocated, they can sell their permits to companies that do.
The Cap and Trade is a policy that protects human heath conditions through the prevention of large amounts of emission from different sources that pollute the environment. These sources have to gather emission allowances and had to comply to a strategy that includes meeting a required reduction in pollution, checking pollution control besides others.
Videos
There will be penalities for going above your allocated emission allowance, and the program will monitor things like acid rain, clean air rules, and emissions released into the atmosphere.
Now that the bill has passed, the biggest challenge will come this September when the Senate takes up legislation for the bill.
Much opposition to the bill in the Senate comes from the farm and coal state legislators who fear that such severe restrictions will damage the local economies of many towns and will raise the cost of things like electricity for the average American family.
Some critics say that if they have to import wind and solar electricity from other states, it will become too expensive to light their homes. This feeling is especially strong in the Southeast states.
Dissenting voices will only gain prominence in the Senate, where each state has equal representation.
“The Senate magnifies the significance of rural constituencies,” says Scott Segal of Bracewell and Giuliani, a Washington, D.C., law firm specializing in energy issues.
Last week, the Congressional Budget Office looked at the cost of such a bill in the year 2020 for average families. According to their calculations, based on the current bill that passed on Friday, the net annual economy-wide cost by the year 2020 would be $22 billion.
Companies that would have to adjust and purchase carbon allowances for example, will not absorb that cost themselves, the cost would be passed on to the consumer, and by 2020, according to the budget office, that cost would be about $175 per American household. That number is just the cost however, and does not take in to account the potential cost benefits that would come from reducing carbon emissions. The number equals about 0.2 percent of a family's after-tax income, on average.
Some households would benefit more though, as they might receive energy rebates and tax credits. Some of the poorest households would be most likely to see a rebate of about $40 a year, but the richer households would suffer more and would have to pay more.
See how the Congressional Budget Office broke it down.
Republican critics however, say that the $175 figure is much too low, and that it will actually cost Americans much more. If you live in a state where most of the energy supply comes from coal for example, it will most likely cost you more each year to live.
Farmers are also concerned that it will cost them more, because their business relies on machines like tractors, and animals such as cows, both of which are heavy emissions producers.
Some states stand to benefit from the bill and others to lose from it.
However, the bill still has to go through the Senate and it appears it has some tough competition there.
Two tightly interconnected issues could stop the bill in its tracks in the Senate. The first is mathematical: Currently, Democrats hold 59 seats in the upper house, a solid majority but not enough to sidestep a Republican filibuster that would kill hopes for the bill's passage (60 votes are needed to invoke cloture, which would override a filibuster attempt.)
The second is that the introduction of both a climate and energy bill may be too much at one time, rather than trying to pass two separate bills. Add on top of that the current economic climate, and supporters worry that there are already too many strikes against the bill.
A list of key fence-sitting Democratic senators could include Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mark Warner of Virginia. Republicans who in the past have voiced support for energy or climate legislation include George Voinovich of Ohio and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, if concessions are made to promote nuclear power.
It remains to be seen what will happen however, but for now the bill is on the way to the Senate, and that will be decided in September.
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Most Recommended Comment
Crowd Power
Amy Judd
Vancouver, Canada
Related Stories
Recommendations (33)
Anonymous users (7)
Jennings David L
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Roy C
Vancouver, Washington, United States
Paschen
Narita, Chiba, Japan
albertacowpoke
Canada
Pythiian1
New York, New York, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (65)
at 06:18 on July 2nd, 2009
I'm with you
at 06:16 on July 2nd, 2009
The next step will be to tax those smaller businesses (mom and pop places) such as small tool and dye shops, resturants, or places which need to use some more electical power or gas to supply their services. Farmers can't change what gases cows produce it won't change, so why tax them. It will ethier put them out of business or push up the prices so high people won't buy. These small businesses are the backbone to the economy giving jobs to many. They can't afford to buy permits and pay extra taxes, let alone be required to pay all employees health benefits (new socialized health plan proposal). Soon we will all be working for the government. Those of us who work seem to be paying the way for government and all those who don't work. Leave us alone and let us put people back to work.
at 20:48 on July 28th, 2009
The following was sent to m and I think the analogy is dead on:
at 04:29 on July 29th, 2009
I don't believe in "preaching" politics from the pulpit. This sermon is political. I pass it on as it was passed to me without any changes, additions or comment. Marty
From A Recent Sermon In A Church In Virginia. Scripture Text: Gen 47:13-27
Good morning, brothers and sisters; it's always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday morning, and people eager to get into God's Word... Turn with me please in your Bibles, if you will, to the 47th chapter of Genesis; we'll begin our reading at verse 13 and go through verse 27. Brother Ray, would you stand and read this great passage for us? .... Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray.
So we see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt, and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax increase, and willingly gave it all to him in return for grain. And, this went on until their money ran out. Once again, they were hungry.
So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock - their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey - to barter for grain. Verse 17 says this took them only through the end of that year.
But the famine wasn't over, was it?
So the next year, the people came before Pharaoh and admitted they had nothing left, except their land and their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh." So they surrendered their homes, their land, and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain.
What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters?
That turning to the government instead of to God to be our Provider during hard times only leads to slavery? Yes..., this is the reason government wants to become our provider; it knows it can ultimately become our master. Yes! Yes! Yes!
But now look look here, how that passage ends, brothers and sisters! "Thus, Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly." God provided for His people, just as He always has! They didn't end up giving all their possessions to the government. No! It says they gained possessions!
But I also tell you a great truth today, and an ominous one. We see the same thing happening today. Once again, the government wants to "share the wealth," to take it from us, and to redistribute it back to us. It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken control of education, and ration it back to us. And you know, brothers and sisters when government rations it out, then government decides who gets it, how much, and what kind.
And if we go along with it, and do it willingly, then we will wind up no differently than the people did in Egypt some four thousand years ago. We will become as slaves to the government --and as slaves to the government's leaders.
What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no different from what Egypt's Pharaoh did then; and, my brothers and sisters, it will end in the same way...
A lot of people like to call Mr. Obama a "Messiah," don't they? I ask you, is he a Messiah? Is he truly a Savior?
After Pharaoh made the Israelites his slaves, did they ever say, "You have saved our lives, Pharaoh! Did they ever say, "If it pleases our lord, we will be servants to you, Pharaoh"?
Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah is a friend of mine; and Mr. Obama is no Messiah! No, my brothers and sisters, if Mr. Obama is a character from the Bible, then he is Pharaoh.
Bow with me in prayer, if you will.
Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel when Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would do; where it says "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." And, Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to You because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves as a nation... Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray for revival, and we pray for deliverance from those who would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and hands to serve You, and protect us, Your people, from the atrocities of Pharaoh's government.
In Jesus Holy Name we pray. AMEN.
at 09:58 on July 5th, 2009
ANY TIME OUR GOVERNMENT SPENDS MONEY, IT HAS BEEN DERIVED FROM ALL OF US! "GREEN" Means "MONEY" that us little guys have to fork over, American business is strangled and they in turn strangle us. The younger generations that become the majority as time goes on lose thier maturity to see the "OBAMANATIONS" that are being created for thier future! Complacity was the fall of the greatest nations of the world and we can NOT sit back and let Obama or anyone else take our freedoms away in the name of being compliant. Learn your history people, Obama is NO messiah or savior, he is a one world government agent that if employed leaves "we the people" with no recourses.
at 20:45 on July 7th, 2009
Read it completely and draw your own conclusions instead of regurgitating what you have heard someone else say. It's time giant corporations, oil companies, coal companies, all these greedy, grubbing entities that have charge we the consumers who have paid through the nose for eons, to pay themselves for their refusal to see how they have polluted the air our children breathe and the water sources we are forced to drink from. It will push them to start finding new and more cost efficient ways to generate power and in doing so start creating new job opportunities for our working class. Progress sometimes cost us, and you have to change with the times or be left behind. My great grandmother used to tell me all the uproar that was created when automobiles were invented and the outrage of the wagona and buggy makers raising cane over being pushed out of the way of progress. But how many of us don't drive a car now instead of a buggy. Sacrifices have to be made by all of us including big business. I am willing to pay more if I need to so that my great grandchildren can have clean air and water and I think most of you would too if you have a lick of sense. For 8 years we were told there was no such thing as global warming too...but who can deny our polar caps are melting and it's all due to the state of our enviroment due to carbon emissions. I am no enviromentalist, no left wing radical....but a died in the wool registered REPUBLICAN. But I too am smart enough to know something has got to change to be able to breathe the air and drink the water for us and our future generations.
Grandma in Texas
at 03:58 on July 9th, 2009
I don't get it. So, if a company has loads of money, they can just keep on poluting? How is money going to help the enviroment?
at 21:06 on July 9th, 2009
What I think as a coalminer we should do is send our coal overseas and not sell one once to any power plants, concrete factories, limestone mines, nor steele mills in the us . Then all these people would understand no heat / ac, no lights, no hot water, no way to cook on your electric stove, no way to keep food good because no power to operate your refrigerators, no internet, no roads because no concrete, no way to set footers for construction because no concrete, no clean water because no way to fire the limestone plants which is used in water treatment, no food again because no way to get limestone for phosphate which goes in just about every food plus toothpaste, no new buildings because no steele which is made from iron ore and coke made from coal which is used to heat the ore, no cars so you have to walk , no planes, no buses , no trucks to haul goods and again no food because of no steele to build these products and oh yes no clothes because no trucks to haul the material to mexico for them to assemble them and to haul them back because no steele to make trucks. SO yes lets do away with coal here and show these people how it isnt needed.
at 16:44 on July 19th, 2009
I agree.Then let people see how they like the cap and trade bill.
at 08:09 on July 10th, 2009
You guys are all idiots talking about something you have no idea about. This bill will actually gain America 4 million jobs. That's after the assumed loss of jobs. This is because for every 1 mil spent on clean energy we get 16.7 jobs compared to 5.3 for coal. Thats according to American action progress. Morons...
at 16:43 on July 19th, 2009
It will also put 4 million people out of work.
at 12:43 on July 27th, 2009
Yeah, "Don'tworryaboutit" It will gain us 4 million jobs but lose us 5 million but, you see, the one million net loss compared with the real gross 4 million gain, gives you 3 million peso's. Now if you take the baseline from 1992 budget of Bill Clintons first year in office and multiply it by pi you get a net gain of $93 billion in the first year and a $100 trillion gain over the next 10 years. Unless you really read the bill and understand economics, then you realize these people have NO IDEA what they are doing! It's all a bunch of crap! Politicians are all liars!
at 20:40 on July 28th, 2009
Ok mr. don'worryaboutit I won'tworry about it. I agree that something needs to be done about using alternate sources of energy but this aint the way to do it. for starters the impact this bill would have on the economy would be far greater than what we are going through right now. The problem is when this TAX is implemented there will be a massive surge of unemployment because the infrastructure to deal with the changes that we need is not in place and you are looking at a minimum of probably 2 years for the job market, among other things to even begin to right itself. So is this bill worth the cost to the public(which includes you) that will happen if it is put into practice?
Here is a point to ponder: what about the people that are on a fixed income and won't be able to handle the impact? Especially the senior citizens of this country. Screw the job part of it what about those people. A vast majority of this group of people are hard pressed to absorb even a $10.00 increase in any monthly bill. According to the numbers you put forth, if they are even close to being in the ballpark, most of the jobs created would probably be taken by people that are working two jobs just to make the bills that would be created by the increase in cost for utilities alone.
at 17:31 on July 18th, 2009
at 22:00 on July 20th, 2009
Grandma in Texas....
Hitch up your buggy and break out your latern because after Brother Al and his cronnies get hold of this we wont be able to afford cars on electricity. PS: I have grand kids that I want clean air and fresh water for but not through higher taxes. If the big companies pay more they only pass them on to us midle income folks and as a small business they are already taxing me out of business. Grandma go warm up by the wood burning stove... yor not allow to be wasting any more energy. You are over your yearly allowance and you will be fined heavily if we catch your lights on on your sprinkler running. Welcome to South Texas
at 11:46 on July 24th, 2009
So Mr. Jennings i take it you know absouletly nothing about markets and economics. Well let me teach you something quickly. A tax is an effective price floor raising the price on a good to a level that it wouldnt reach if left at equilibrium. The reason we do this is for externalities, which comes down to morals. But lets leave those out for a second. Your increasing energy costs for the whole nation, effecting EVERY SINGLE SECTOR, and you think that is a move in the positive direction? Wow, i think you need to stop drinking the kool aid
at 21:27 on July 24th, 2009
When is this bill going to be finalized through the senate and how will low income families be effected.
at 12:30 on July 27th, 2009
It is frightening! It seems like everyone is against it, yet all this stuff keeps on getting through. However, elected officials keep getting re-elected! I want to through the bums out...just not my bum! When are we going to learn? I will vote against every imcumbant for the rest of my life! I'm a republican and I'll vote for a democrat before I vote for another career politician. They need to go back and get working at McDonald's where they could learn about supply and demand, raising prices being a problem rather than the solution, doing more with less people, actually turning a profit rather than spending, spending, spending. My eighteen year old could run the country better than these schlepps. If the only job you've ever had is being a politician, or worse, a community organizer, you should not be in office!
at 07:10 on July 28th, 2009
To those who were for this ridiculous and ultimately back-breaking bill....natural volcanoes emit some of the worst ozone depleting gasses. And teh amount of volcanic hot spots on this earth are increasing!
So what are they going to do about that?
at 16:16 on July 29th, 2009
tax the mountains...........LOL or whatever state they are sitting in!!!
at 19:50 on July 28th, 2009
If you run the numbers on this tax( that is all it is) that $175 is way under what it would actually cost us the consumer. That would actually be more like $250 a month not year. If the rest of the dem. party would look closer at this man you would see more of the younger congressmen and ladies jump off the band wagon.
The fact is wether they are dem. or rep. they are all crooks who care nothing about the people that put them in power.
at 20:05 on July 28th, 2009
I will not say the word that comes to mind but it starts with a C...That is where this administration is heading with bills like this one. I read an article that was sent to me by a friend of mine that was written by a journalist for Pravda( the Russian news ) basically what was stated was that our president and congress are blind and sure didn't pay attention in history class and stay up on current events. What is going on here has been tried twice in the past century and didn't work either time. Russia and Germany and I will leave it at that. That is one of the reasons why even more of the world has lost respect for our country since Jan. 20th because of one man!
at 10:19 on July 29th, 2009
Does Obama think that these now more expensive goods (produce, milk, meat, gasoline, diesel) will be shipped across country in an electric, hybrid 18-wheeler? Truckers will be out of business and so will America.
at 10:45 on July 29th, 2009
And who is going to get all these "Green Jobs"? The Illegal immigrants because they will work cheap without healthcare because they are already getting that for free too!
at 16:13 on July 29th, 2009
I am in the Oil business, I do title research for Brokers who have big oil for clients, there are currently 750,000 + of us out of a job right now because of this cap and trade bill, it was 6 months before I got another job out here in the oil patch and there are MANY more who are not working yet.........we are independents and this administration has cost alot of jobs and I resent it......if this cap and trade bill goes through we are all in a world of hurt and we have just let the dictator take over........I guess Walker's comment about socializing oil was just what the commie liberals are scheming next..........I hate democrats, and liberal idiots who think they know what I need and where I can get it and take all of my money in taxes........stupid.
at 11:29 on July 30th, 2009
Okay, the earth can warm up based on scientific evidence...as well as cool, as studied and published from multiple sources. This warming or cooling has occurred during the billions of years the earth has been here. Bear with me; as the earth cools or heats up due to the change in the atomosphere does not specifically have to do with human related activities. Volcanoes, meteors, earthquakes, drought, ice-ages, etc. all have contributed to catastrophic events that either warmed or cooled the earth (some more than others). In our insignificant "recorded" scientific research history that we put together where we do not have the capability to live independently of government for the good our nation (thru taxes) AND THEN pass a bill to solve our so called "Global Warming" is well....just plain stupid. I am not going to say that everything that Al Gore stands for is true or false it's just someone wanting to feed their legacy as a political-enviro-giant where no when can argue "let's live in a sustainable, clean, world". No kidding. The tax on corporate america and beyond is just going to keep us on unemployment, hiking up our bills, and move us into parents homes or closest friends to afford the utility bills, groceries, etc...
There's a better solution to environmental issues...it's called better research and education to inform people how to live not how to pay your "toll" and just go on with your life.
at 06:26 on August 4th, 2009
I hope everyone is writing, emailing and calling their Senators.
at 22:54 on August 7th, 2009
Why is it the responses I've read here are against this bill yet it has come this far. Yes I do believe that something stinks in Washington. Nobody is mentioning only America is doing this. While Russia, China, India, are but a few that will still pollute.
Put the whole bill into the newspaper for everyone to read, or is their fear so great they will hoodwink us? Land of the free or home of the slaves.
at 14:09 on August 8th, 2009
I know a co-worker who returned from a trip to Australia, where they practice cap and trade: they spent $25. American to have their laundry done at a coin laundry for a family of 4!
Ray
at 16:47 on August 15th, 2009
This bill is a culmination of what Al Gore has been working on since he lost in 2000.
It puts carbon emmision limits on companies, gives them credits for staying well under their limit and allows them to sell the credits to companies that pollute more.
Make sense to you? General Electric likes it a lot. Making more sense now?
They claim it will lead to a cleaner, greener world, create tons of jobs, and make everything more cost effective.
Fact is, the dirtiest polluters, China & India have no intention of joining a worldwide effort and the United States reductions would result in a whopping 1% decrease in global C O2 reduction.
Any jobs created would be few while develpment & technology caught up, and the mass of jobs would not occur until we were in production & purchasing phase. By the time that happens, the jobs would be overseas because it will have become far too expensive for the companies to operate here.
In the meantime, the price for everything we touch and consume in our daily lives will 'skyrocket', (Obama's own word) to the point that we can no longer afford to have a baby to thow out with the bath water.