Just days before Congress recesses for the upcoming elections, House Commerce Committee chair Henry Waxman stepped into the debate over Internet regulation yesterday, releasing draft legislation to impose certain “neutrality” rules to providers of broadband Internet service. Hammered out in negotiations over the past few weeks with the active participation of Google, Verizon, and other competing broadband industry players, the final product—not surprisingly—looks a lot like the Google–Verizon consensus plan announced last month. Specifically, the Waxman proposal would ban Internet access providers such as Verizon from blocking content outright but …
If you are tired of our nation’s year-long health care debate and you were hoping that the passage of President Barack Obama’s health care bill would settle anything, then Politico has some bad news for you: the real fight is just getting started. Starting today, a coalition of leftist groups will sink millions of dollars into television advertising and astroturf events selling the plan to the American people. But as a Washington Post poll conducted after passage last week shows, the Obama administration and their leftist allies face a steep …
Toyota’s Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda testified yesterday about safety and quality control after his company recalled 8.5 million cars and trucks worldwide – 6 million in the United States. A deeply remorseful Toyoda feared the company may have been growing too quickly and outlined how the company would move forward with the recall. Earlier testimony included an anecdote from Lexus owner Rhonda Smith, who avoided catastrophe after her vehicle unexpectedly sped to 100 miles per hour, but she managed to eventually pull over. Smith berated Toyota and the National …
Yesterday, Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unveiled an outline of their cap-and-trade proposal. Interestingly, their version of a national tax on American energy is hard to distinguish from earlier proposals such as the House-passed Waxman-Markey or the Senate committee-passed Boxer-Kerry. All of these proposals have one thing in common: they hurt the economy. However, the Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham take great care in their 5-page document to detail the benefits of their proposal, and implicitly suggest why it is superior to each. Let’s …
The Waxman-Markey Global Warming Tax would have a devastating effect on our economy. But don’t just take our word for it. This week we’ll be sharing the opinions of other organizations who agree that Waxman-Markey will cause massive unemployment and drive energy prices up for all Americans. Today: Washington Post writer Steve Pearlstein Waxman and Markey are wily and experienced politicians, so it is a fair assumption that the bill their committee passed last night in a 33-25 vote is pretty close to what the U.S. political system is now …
When it comes global warming, two debates are currently taking place. At the forefront is the political debate. Current legislation introduced by House Democrats Ed Markey and Henry Waxman includes a cap-and-trade plan to attempt to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. But the debate unfortunately (and like most political debates) has largely evolved into each party talking past each other. In fact, even Democrats have been talking past each other, which forced Chairman Waxman to bypass subcommittee markup and moving to full committee to keep the bill moving …
If you cannot agree on something, go forward with it anyway. Is that how our founding fathers intended the political process to work? From Politico: “Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman plans to fast-track his controversial climate change bill, bypassing the political hurdles of the subcommittee. ‘I’m still holding firm on my deadline to get a bill out of committee by the end of May and I believe that will probably require us to go right to the full committee and bypass the subcommittee,’ Waxman told reporters. Democrats on the …
Policymakers in Washington want to dramatically change America’s energy policy by regulating carbon dioxide emissions. Their most popular idea, included in the Waxman-Markey 2009 energy bill, is a cap and trade proposal. Many Americans find the debate in Washington over adopting a cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon dioxide a bit confusing. It works like this: Policymakers set a cap on the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that can be omitted into the atmosphere. Each power plant, factory, refinery, and other regulated entity will be allocated allowances (rights …
This week, beginning today, Waxman and Markey are holding Congressional hearings to discuss the draft of a massive energy bill that includes clean energy investment, energy efficiency mandates, a cap-and-trade program, and protectionist policies that will supposedly help the consumer cope with higher energy prices. The logic behind the hearing process is to gather experts to help inform legislators about the impact of their efforts. This is a worthwhile and laudable goal, to be sure, but the reality is often very different. Unfortunately, the hearing process is often hijacked by …
Former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore heard much criticism from skeptics of his apocalyptic global warming predictions when he purchased a multi-million condo in San Francisco. After all, if one believes sea-level rises will swallow the coast, the last place to purchase a home would be a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean, right? But if all goes as planned, it will be the federal government and businesses that pay for ‘victims’ of global warming. In draft legislation introduced by Chairman Henry Waxman (D–CA) of the House Energy …
