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UPDATE JUNE 23! Steve Milloy declares here in “Waxman-Markey: Corruption In, Corruption Out. It’s hard to say whether the Waxman-Markey global warming bill that will soon be debated and voted on in the House is the most intellectually- and morally-corrupt bill ever seriously considered by Congress. But I’d bet that there are 433 congressmen who are glad that this legislative atrocity is not named after them…”

Blue Dogs or Obama Poodles? Cap-and-Trade Tax Will Tell

The House of Representatives Blue Dog Caucus, Democrats who want to be seen as fiscally conservative (well, sort of), could play a key role in stopping the galactic-size tax the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill would impose. 

This revolutionary proposal may well come before the House by the July 4 recess. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Myron Ebell - -

“The Waxman-Markey bill would set many records: the biggest tax increase in history; the biggest government interference in the people’s lives since the Second World War; the biggest transfer of wealth from consumers to special interests in American history; the biggest opportunity for corruption and manipulation by Wall Street traders ever created. It would cause consumer energy prices to go up relentlessly for decades, create some jobs while destroying millions of jobs,and produce perpetual economic stagnation.” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

Ebell also reported last week - -

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) are making mighty efforts to get the Waxman-Markey energy-rationing bill to the House floor before the Fourth of July recess, which is scheduled to begin on 26th June. The main obstacle to passage appears to be a group of moderate Democrats centered in the Agriculture Committee and led by Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), the Committee’s Chairman. Peterson claimed to have forty-five votes as he started horse trading with Pelosi and Waxman. I expect that the Democratic leadership will come up with enough votes to pass H. R. 2454 narrowly and with only a handful of Republican votes.” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

Last Wednesday, the New York Post guided us to Jane Hamsher’s report here from Campaign Silo (”What We Learned from the Supplemental: If Obama Wants a Public Plan, the Blue Dogs Will Do It”) on how malleable that House faction can become when faced down by the Obama Machine –

“Every single Blue Dog*[except Michael Michaud] voted for the supplemental [appropriation], despite the fact that they had huge concerns about the enormous price tag, and it went totally against their ‘fiscal responsibility’ mantra. Jim Cooper is in trouble in his own largely African-America district because Nashville Metro General Hospital is in danger of shutting down, and Cooper doesn’t believe in earmarks. He voted against the supplemental the first time, and even he switched at Obama’s request, despite the fact that the IMF funding, Clunkers, and flu preparedness had been added to the bill by the time it came to a vote.

This morning we learn that the Blue Dogs are meeting with ‘moderate’ Republicans and the New Democrats to try and derail a public [healthcare] plan.

But now we know what it looks like when the administration truly brings pressure to bear on an issue they care about. If Obama does the same on healthcare, there can be little doubt that the Blue Dogs will respond likewise. . . and we will have a public plan.”

Maryland’s Frank Kratovil and Virginia’s Glenn Nye

This week the National Taxpayers Union wrote here and here Blue Dogs Frank Kratovil of Maryland and Glenn Nye of Virginia (and other House members of both parties) urging them to oppose the cap-and-trade tax.

Next week’s vote will be as good a test as conservatives can find whether Mr. Kratovil and Mr. Nye are fiscally courageous Blue Dogs, or Mr. Obama’s Poodles.

 

In the interim, check in at Climate Depot to stay on top of the larger picture. Savvy publisher Marc Morano cites George Will’s dictum about global-warming alarmism:

“Global warming has become like God: It is an explanation for everything and an all-purpose excuse for the political class to do whatever it wants to do. What a large portion of it wants to do—what it has a metabolic urge to do—is boss people around.”

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