House Passes American Clean Energy and Security Act

On a near party-line vote, the House passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The bill passed 219-212, with some interesting crossover votes (See Roll No. 477). Eight Republicans joined the majority, and 44 Democrats voted against the bill, but for different reasons than the Republicans. Dennis Kucinich expressed the opinion of Democrats in opposition to the bill in this statement:

It sets targets that are too weak, especially in the short term, and sets about meeting those targets through Enron-style accounting methods. It gives new life to one of the primary sources of the problem that should be on its way out– coal – by giving it record subsidies. And it is rounded out with massive corporate giveaways at taxpayer expense. There is $60 billion for a single technology which may or may not work, but which enables coal power plants to keep warming the planet at least another 20 years.

Worse, the bill locks us into a framework that will fail. Science tells us that immediately is not soon enough to begin repairing the planet. Waiting another decade or more will virtually guarantee catastrophic levels of warming. But the bill does not require any greenhouse gas reductions beyond current levels until 2030.

Today’s bill is a fragile compromise, which leads some to claim that we cannot do better. I respectfully submit that not only can we do better; we have no choice but to do better...

The entire statement is available at his website: Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Pete Sessions, of course, voted with the majority of Republicans who opposed the bill, calling it a National Energy Tax. According to Republicans, the cap and trade measures will pass the costs onto consumers. Pete Sessions' comments on cap and trade are available on his YouTube page: The National Energy Tax (Cap and Trade).