Joining Their 11 Colleagues, Eight More Republicans Advance Cap-And-Trade Tax Myth
Joining Their 11 Colleagues, Eight More Republicans Advance Cap-And-Trade Tax Myth
Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted that at least 11 Republican members of Congress have advanced the false claim that a cap-and-trade proposal currently before Congress would cost American families over $3,000 in extra energy taxes per year. They base their claim on a 2007 MIT study. In fact, that study actually says any tax burden would be about one-fortieth of what the Republicans claim.
Since yesterday, at least eight more GOP members have joined their ranks in advancing the false claim. Some have repeated the exact same line (GOP Reps. Paul Broun of Georgia and Jason Chaffetz of Utah both said the budget “opens the door to a national energy tax that will cost every family at least $3,128 a year”), while others like Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) have increased the alleged tax to $4,500. Watch the compilation:
John Reilly, an MIT professor and one of the researchers who worked on the 2007 study the Republicans are citing, said that some House conservatives had contacted him two weeks ago about the study. He said he “explained why the estimate they had was probably incorrect and what they should do to correct it.” In fact, Reilly has now written a letter to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) — who has himself made the false claim — to denounce the GOP’s distortion of his study.
This morning on the House floor, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) called out the Republicans for making this false claim, noting that Reilly “indicates that they are using an intentional misrepresentation of the study”:
BLUMENAUER: One of the things I find most distressing is their repeated falsehood about somehow a $3,000 increase in taxes on the American people based on a research done by MIT. They talked about it four times again last night! [...] The fact is that in the budget we have an opportunity for people who want to be legislators not communicators to help us allocate how those benefits will be utilized.
Thus far, congressional Republicans haven’t let the facts stand in the way of a good lie.
Transcript:
APRIL 1
REP. PAUL BROUN (R-GA): Or that [the budget] opens the door to a national energy tax that will cost every single family in America at least $3,128 a year.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI): One estimate from MIT says that the cap and trade scheme could raise taxes on households by as much as $4500 a year.
REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): Yes, let me first say that cap and tax scheme that is in this budget, $646 billion. They have a 600-page bill, a billion dollars a bill [sic] they are spending. Your part of that is $3,128 per household. That is your national energy tax.
REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R-UT): Or that it opens the door to a national energy tax that will cost every family at least $3,128 a year.
REP. JEB HENSARLING (R-TX): The Democratic budget is proposing a national energy tax which according to studies at MIT could pose a $3,128 burden on every working family in America.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Under the Obama proposal its $3,000 per family, so it’s a very expensive proposal.
APRIL 2
REP. DAVID DREIER (R-TX): It also increases taxes on every single American household across this country with new energy taxes. In fact, families will see their taxes on energy go up by as much as $3,100 a year.
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA): Because that proposal, there are economists out there who have said anywhere from 1,800 to more than 3,200 dollars of additional tax on every household in America would be the result from a cap and tax scheme.
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Thus far, congressional Republicans haven’t let the facts stand in the way of a good lie.
Have they ever?
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 pmoff topic; This just in. Leahy bails on truth commission. more at http://www.commondreams.org.
The neo-Nazi war criminal administration wins.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:02 pmThus far, congressional Republicans haven’t let the facts stand in the way of a good lie.
– - It isn’t a lie if you believe it’s the truth. The GOP seems to be uniformly ignorant – willful or not – about many facts.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:05 pmI’d expect nothing less from lying liars.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:05 pmWhy doesn’t anyone in the MSM challenge these guys? I’ve seen Norah O’Donnell nail unsuspecting guests on a bunch of issues in the past; why doesn’t anyone present the truth on TV to these jerks and make them explain themselves? I know they would just issue the common correction: “I’m not aware of what the Professor has said, and I haven’t seen his revised statement, but the numbers speak for themselves…” but it would be nice to see someone at least have the balls to stand up to them and call them liars. These guys aren’t obscure Republican figures, they’re the leadership. And they need to be held accountable.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:08 pmI have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.
Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:17 pmHey! GNOP parrots! There’s a cliff! jump off it! It’s only 3 feet to the bottom!
Oops, that was actually 3,000 feet. Sorry bout that.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 pmOK, I’m curious. Do these guys KNOW they’re advancing a lie and doing it anyway, or do they truly believe what they’re saying because their only source for information is the person issuing the GOP marching orders? Do these guys do any reading for themselves?
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pmIt’s like listening to a cheating spouse saying “I had to lie to you to spare your feelings. Trust me, it’s for your own good.”
The GNOP craptastic liefest continues!
PEACE
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 pmRep Blumenauer stands up for the truth there, but its still too ‘indirect’—”too many words” ( if you know your Amadeus, you know the reference).
Don’t make a speech when it comes to this kind of thing, just LIST THE FACTS FIRST!
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 pmWhat a bunch of lying thugs. They’re counting on most Americans not knowing what Cap and Trade is all about. I think the Center for American Progress’s website gave a pretty good presentation explaining Cap and Trade.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Oops here’s the link.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/manlove_video.html
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:28 pmRepublicans lying? Making false statements to mask bankrupt ideology? Business as usual…
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 pmBob Latta from Ohio also made this claim
“Because there is a cost involved, Latta said he is concerned about the impact on companies and American households. He said each household could end up paying between $1,600 and $3,500 annually for a share of the overall cost to reduce greenhouse emissions.”
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:31 pmI noticed that most of the Congressmen in the above clip are in the U.S. House when these arguments are going on.
Question: how many times must you repeat the same talking point in front of the other congressmen before it starts to be true? I don’t watch cable, so is this a common occurrence–to have one congressman say something and tag-team to another congressman from his party, only for the exact same information to be said?
Really, saying something that isn’t true five times does not make the Truth Fairy come out to make it true.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:33 pmOnce again proving Republicans are unable to think for themselves.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:38 pmWhether or not you believe cap & trade will end up improving our environment, how in the world can any of you possibly believe that energy companies won’t immediately pass the tax on to consumers?
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:42 pmwe should just resign ourselves, right romartin?
we’ll just let john thain and dick cheney do all the thinkin’, and shut up and be grateful, right, romartin?
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 pmGOP: it’s always about money. They’re Johnny one note. It’s almost like they’re brain damaged.
Issues like leaving a healthy planet to our grandchildren too high on the evolutionary scale for them to hear.
But the lie should not matter! What would you pay to save the lives of millions?
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:46 pmRomartin: Even if the cost is passed on to the consumers, as the study shows, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $70/person/year. The study also says that that cost could be wiped away with a tax credit to the consumer. But don’t let the facts get in the way of your obstruction.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:50 pmRomartin16985 Says:
Whether or not you believe cap & trade will end up improving our environment, how in the world can any of you possibly believe that energy companies won’t immediately pass the tax on to consumers?
I don’t think we’re naive in thinking that the consumer is totally immune to costs and taxes. I think the argument here is that the GOP is inflating their estimates by not listening to the writer of the report itself.
Besides, if we continue to consume gas, oil, and coal recklessly, energy prices would skyrocket from demand for a decreasing supply, would they not? I’d rather work towards a better and cleaner energy than suffer the consequences of a depleted supply.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 pmBrian -
Let say you’re correct, the cost would be about $70 per person/year.
Show me a government tax that stays where it is, never ever goes up?
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 pmHey, how about that heatwave in Australia, B.O.? Hell of a tan those Aussies got.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:07 pmbut you live on myths, barackobomber.
why the problem with this one, if that’s what it is?
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:15 pmOur first drone from the Competitive Enterprise Institute showed up at post #23. What took you so long? You all on lunch break at CEI?
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:16 pmwould it help if we blamed it on minorities or foreigners, BO?
how about if it was al qaeda’s fault?
would you be willing to take action on climate change if it kept “teh gay” from marrying? i bet you would.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:18 pmPurple – Yes, I’d rather work towards a better and cleaner energy supply than we have now.
But do you realize that President Obama’s budget will provide incentives, subsidies, and loan guarantees for companies to invest in specific clean energy projects or technologies? So will companies pick their projects based on which will be economically competitive or which the government is funding?
And when some of those projects don’t pan out, guess what, the consumer pays twice. Higher electric bills while funding private companies.
Again, the free market system is not perfect but I believe it is the place to start looking for answers.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:22 pmI don’t get it.
In a public lie, there is usually that moment of truth where the opponent exposes the lie. Then the liar has egg all over their face.
Where is that moment ?
We already have the author of the study debunking the lie. What more do we need ?
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:22 pmIt is impossible that those could be one and the same thing?
Impossible?
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:25 pmHeaven forbid a start-up needing capital to, you know, start up.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:32 pmYeah, the “free market” has done a great job of providing clean energy so far, hasn’t it?
BTW, the fossil fuel industies have been massively subsidized by the government for decades. Why do you “free market ” guys never complain about that?
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pmNot impossible, but certainly not a sure thing. And I don’t believe we should keep
throwing money around, do you?
Politicians do not have all of the answers. Their fixes to problems will almost always include an agenda to increase their own personal influence and power.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pmRemember how the AIG bonuses were handled?
The Republicans have lied so often, for so long, that everyone is numb to their lies. The Republican base knows they are lying, but they like it. Everyone else assumes they are lying but just shrugs it off.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:37 pmShoeless,
I agree. How about holding President Obama to his campaign promise to be an
“all of the above” guy when it comes to energy?
I have heard nothing on new leases for drilling (in fact I believe more areas were recently voted to be off limits), and there have been no new leases for nuclear power plants.
Lets find real solutions for cleaner coal. I believe this cap and trade will be just another tax passed on to consumers, and does not address the heart of the matter.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pmCertainly not to the oil, coal & gas industries, defense contractors with overbudget useless weapon systems contracts or for-profit ‘health care’ companies.
And for the record, I don’t think AIG, the automakers or the banks should have been bailed out either.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:40 pmThere aren’t. ‘Clean coal’ is about as real as ‘healthy poison’.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:43 pmRomartin16985 Says:
Politicians do not have all of the answers. Their fixes to problems will almost always include an agenda to increase their own personal influence and power.
Remember how the AIG bonuses were handled?
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
_________
What does this have to do with anything?
Members of Congress will not be deciding which companies and projects receive funding.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 pmbarack obomber Says:
you idiots have it backwards. “Global warming” or no wait since its cooler now “climate change” hhaa is a myth.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
__________
Uh, no. It’s not “cooler now.” This past winter was one of the warmest on record.
Sorry, but the facts disagree with your talking point…
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:47 pmHe’s gone. Mention the CEI and they scatter like cockroaches when the light comes on.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:49 pmOf course there will be lobbying for the money! Who else decides where the money is spent if not Congress.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:50 pmOnce again we see Republicans getting all principled when it comes to sudsidizing clean energy. Where were those “free market” principles when they were shoveling piles of money to the coal, oil, and gas companies?
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:51 pmKeep complaining and blaming, or move forward. Your choice.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:59 pmRomartin16985 Says:
Of course there will be lobbying for the money! Who else decides where the money is spent if not Congress.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
__________
Career civil servants, whose job it is to evaluate proposals based on their viability and cost-effectiveness, ideally as part of an open and transparent bidding process.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:02 pmWe’re advocating moving forward. You know, by shifting subsidies & incentives from oil, coal and gas to cleaner sources.
You’d do well taking your own advice.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:02 pmRomartin16985 Says:
Keep complaining and blaming, or move forward. Your choice.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
___________
We are moving forward. The only complainer here is you.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:03 pmLook, you are the one complaining we can’t go forward because doing so violates “free market” principles. You can’t complain about subsidizing green energy after giving a pass to the subsidies to the fossil fuel industries, which effectively hampered development of clean energy for decades.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 pmI can see we have no common ground.
So here’s my last point –
When corporations are taxed, they usually pass that cost on. So the cap and trade tax does nothing to advance the push to cleaner energy.
We need tax INCENTIVES to encourage private businesses to explore new sources of clean energy, and we need to give them the rights to do it. They WILL do what makes business sense for them. If it is more profitable to produce clean energy, they will do that. Making it more expensive to produce dirty energy is not the same thing as an incentive to produce clean energy!
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:13 pmI think we do, it’s just that you seem to place undue faith in the ‘free market’ to correct social problems; something it has almost universally failed at.
True.
Not necessarily true. Higher ‘dirty’ energy costs will push consumers to either reduce their usage or look for alternatives.
These are not mutually exclusive. Both can be employed.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:17 pmAll right, can you people at TP talk to the people at the networks and set this misinformation straight?
We can send emails till our fingers blister, complaining about their poor reporting — maybe an authoritative voice would be heard by them.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:18 pmAmericans are becoming tired of the same old bs from these whiny Republicans.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:20 pmWags,
I agree that we shouldn’t place all of our faith in the free markets, but I do believe that the balance point is not in the middle, it is somewhere between the two but closer to the free markets. Power is corrupting, giving too much of it to a small group of people in Washington has contributed to many of our current problems. Its a bad idea to give them even more with the President’s huge taxing and spending budget.
I see your points, but the consumer will still end up paying this cap and trade tax, and that is truly unfair.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:28 pmThe problem that is so conveniently ignored when talking about ‘free markets’ is that the market isn’t free at all. It’s a rigged game, designed so that the party in power (large corporate interests) remain in power at the expense of all else. Deregulation fosters rampant corporate consolidation, which leads to less competition. Meanwhile, huge subsidies are given to the oil, coal and gas industries to keep their own profits high while selling cheap commodities, not to mention tarrifs and other levies protecting domestic interests.
It’s disingenuous in the extreme to imply that the market is ‘free’.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 pmWith $40 billion/year in profits, how much power do you think Exxon has?
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 pmRepublicans are shilling for the energy industry lobby again.
Next week, Republicans will be shilling for the pro-gun lobby, then the pharmacutical lobby, then the anti-abortion lobby, then the radical religious right lobby, then the anti-gay lobby, then the tobacco lobby, then the pro-war lobby, etc, etc…..
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:48 pmBoth Republican and Democrat members of congress will twist #’s to their advantage. For any Republican or Democrat to get on their high horse and point a finger a the other is silly and hypocritical. The problem lies in both parties not just one. We should be supporting issues because we believe in them not because they are espoused by one party or another.
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:58 pmAnd by the way, we should all be “shilling” for the pro gun lobby. To keep and bear arms is in the Constitution. There should be no abatement for Law abiding citizens.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:00 pmbarack obomber Says:
you idiots have it backwards. “Global warming” or no wait since its cooler now “climate change” hhaa is a myth. A way for the government to mandate what we buy and how much energy we use. A waste of money and you guys are too stupid to figure out it will actually cost you more money not just rich people.
If Climate Change is a myth, why would the government care what I bought or how much energy I used?
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:40 pmYou better be careful, the government might be monitoring your local grocery store to make sure you are eating properly!
Economic Stimulus. H.R. 5140, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, passed 385-35 on January 29, 2008 (Roll Call 25). It would provide about $150 billion in economic stimulus, including $101.1 billion in direct payments of rebate checks (typically $600) to most taxpayers in 2008 and temporary tax breaks for businesses. Creating money out of thin air and then spending the newly created money cannot improve the economy, at least not in the long term. (If it could, why not create even more money for rebates and make every American a millionaire?) The stimulus has no offset and thus increases the federal deficit by the amount of the stimulus because the government must borrow the rebate money. A realistic long-term stimulus can only be achieved by lowering taxes through less government and by reducing regulatory burdens.Marsha Blackburn voted FOR this bill.(Source: The New American – July 21, 2008)
Marsha Blackburn is my Congressman.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:51 pmShe is no conservative.
See her unconstitutional votes at :
http://bluecollarrepublican.com/blog/?p=614
Mickey
Imagine that, what a surprise! Elected national leaders who have no concerns whatsoever about speaking before the constituency and willfully lying. A co-called Christain nation, no less, sheepishly allows it.
Talk about a decaying civilization. Plato is chuckling again!
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 pmbarack obomber Says:
You are a mindless moronic troll without a shred of decency. You are an ignorant punk. No one cares what lies and stupidity you want to regurgitate on this message board. I dont even read your posts anymore I just see your nick and start giving you the insults you so richly deserve you lying, racist, ignorant cretin
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 amRomartin16985 Says:
And when some of them DO pan out and we lessen our dependence on foriegn oil and get more economic, clean and sustainable energy wont that be WORTH the investment? The free market is not a God given imperative it is a man made construct that we can help better serve societies needs BEYOND pure greedy self interest.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:55 amRomartin16985 Says:
Your entire brain seems hemmed in by talking points that you seem to think become true because you say them. If these energy corporations pass on that cost and green energy dont have those costs to pass on then it will make green energy more competitive and so there is no reason to believe that it WONT address the problem.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:59 amRomartin16985 Says:
Power IS corrupting and YOU are advising we give MORE to corporations. This libertarian idea that only the power given to government matters doesnt make sense. Right NOW corporations have too much power in our society.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:01 amindependent989 Says:
There is no such THING as a Democrat memeber of Congress you insufferable MORON. Since you are too stupid to even know the name of the largest political party in the United States you should just realize you are too ignorant to be taken seriously and STFU
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:03 amDear Eugene -
Go soak your head.
There’s nothing democratic about you.
If you find a typo somewhere your assumed to be able to fill in the blank.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 pmRomartin16985 Says:
Go soak your head.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bite my massive hairy nutsack
There’s nothing democratic about you.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
So you say FASCIST
If you find a typo somewhere your assumed to be able to fill in the blank.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I dont care about typos what I DO notice is the glare of your STUPID
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April 18th, 2009 at 6:12 amsac ekimi