Garden State Patriot

Seth Grossman of Shore News Today has an interesting piece on the c(r)ap and trade bill passed by the House last Friday. According to Seth, this damaging legislation is nothing more than a slush fund for Obama and his cronies. Nice.

Last week the House of Representatives approved HR 2454, the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” by a vote of 219 to 212. If the Senate agrees, this proposed new law will create a huge slush fund of billions of dollars by jacking up every gas and electric bill in America. The money would then be “redistributed” to selected businesses, unions and other groups who are “friends” of Obama and the Democrats.

The House almost rejected the bill when 45 Democrats with principle voted no. The bill passed only because eight unprincipled Republican Congressmen sold out to vote yes.

Three of those “traitors within the gates” are from New Jersey – Frank LoBiondo (Salem, Cumberland, Cape May Gloucester, and Atlantic counties), Chris Smith (Mercer, Burlington, Monmouth and Ocean counties), and Leonard Lance (Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties). All three were strong backers of Chris Christie for governor over Steve Lonegan during last month’s primary election.

Left-wing Democrat Henry Waxman of California introduced the bill as a 1,200-page proposed law just six weeks before it was brought to a vote. Hundreds of pages with special “earmarks” were later added to buy enough congressmen to win passage. One amendment of more than 300 pages was added at 3 a.m. the morning of the vote. Nobody knows exactly what is in it.

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Yesterday, the destructive, job-killing Waxman-Markey C(r)ap and Trade bill passed the House. While numerous Democrats broke ranks to oppose this bad legislation, it passed with some Republican support. That support, unfortunately, came from three so-called Republicans right here in New Jersey. Their names? Leonard Lance, Chris Smith and Frank LoBiondo.

Their votes in favor of this bill represent nothing less than a betrayal of Republican principles. Waxman-Markey, as I have pointed out previously, is a repressive tax for Americans. It will impact everything we produce and result in lost jobs and higher energy bills to the tune of up to $3,000 a year for the average family.

Lance, LoBiondo and Smith have now elevated themselves to the same level as Arlen Specter. Their votes are no less a betrayal as Specter’s was for the Porkulous bill.

As such, each of these Congressmen now no longer deserve our support. Each of them needs to be primaried out. Republicans need to send a strong and clear message that on certain issues you must toe the line and breaking ranks will not be tolerated. If you are a constitutent in the districts represented by these Congressmen make no mistake, they have not represented you, let alone this state and our nation. They need to be voted out.

I, for one, will do all I can to see that that is exactly what happens next year.

The Heritage Foundation has done an exhaustive analysis of the C(r)ap & Trade legislation being readied in the House. The Waxman-Markey bill [logically so-called for the bill's main sponsors, Henry "The Taxman" Waxman (CA) and Ed Markey (MA)], would have significant and drastic negative effects on our economy according to Heritage. Consider that Waxman-Markey, by 2035, would:

Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $7.4 trillion,

Destroy 844,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 1,900,000 jobs,

Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation,

Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent,

Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent,

Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500, and

Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 29 percent, or $33,400 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.

Sound like change you can believe in?

Read the rest of the heritage analysis here: The Economic Impact of Waxman-Markey