Congress is about to embrace a scientific hoax.
The House will vote Friday on a bill based on a scientific impossibility that will impose a huge tax burden on an already staggering economy, and in the words of President Barack Obama, send the cost of everybody's electricity skyrocketing.
According to the legislation, a 17-percent emissions reduction from 2005 levels by 2020 would be required. Electric utilities would be forced to meet 20 percent of their electricity demand through renewable energy sources by 2020, and come up with $90 billion for new investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and another $60 billion for carbon capture and sequestration, a process not yet possible. Another key provision, the so-called “cap-and-trade” part, would require industries and manufacturers to cut carbon emissions by setting up a system where they could buy and sell pollution credits.
Says House Republican Whip Eric Cantor: “There is no question that the cap-and-trade bill will cost millions of jobs and it is pretty evident, I think now, given the word that we are hearing, that the other side has 190 votes at this point, far short of that which are needed to pass this bill,”