Bust a Cap on "Cap and Trade"

Congressman Henry Waxman has capped his non-efforts on the financial crisis and declining trade in this country with a “great idea” for increasing revenue and averting the financial crisis: “Cap and Trade.” As Yogi Bera once quipped: “This is déjà vu all over again.

In 2009, Waxman pushed this plan to curb carbon emissions on industrial polluters (which includes farmers and their ‘fertilizing’ livestock). Despite vote-trading, last minute 300-page amendments, and a close vote, Cap and Trade survived the House. It died in the Senate.

The last thing that this country needs is a “Cap on Trade”, which carbon trading will do. The same people who fomented the Dot.com and Housing bubbles cooked up the pollution credit scheme, one which has frustrated commerce and prosperity in Europe while forcing businesses out of California, who cannot afford the inflated price for carbon permits. These taxes on corporations eventually cost everyone who uses electricity, drives a car, or purchases food in a store.

Instead of decent policies to reduce the national debt and reform entitlements, Congressman Waxman has written letters about an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He released a statement in support of religious minorities in Burma. He even pressed his Congressional colleagues to investigate the link between global warming and national security.

The exploding national debt is our biggest national security threat. Cap and Trade will make it worse. Congress should bust a cap on “Cap and Trade”, and Waxman needs to bust a move on deficit reduction.