CEI Weekly: CEI Battles Climate Change Policies

CEI Weekly is a compilation of articles and blog posts from CEI’s fellows and associates sent out via e-mail every Friday. Also included in the Weekly newsletter is a brief description of CEI’s weekly podcast and a feature on a major CEI breakthrough made during the week. To sign up for CEI Weekly, go to http://cei.org/newsletters.


CEI Weekly
October 1, 2009


>>CEI Battles Climate Change Policies
CEI fought for sensible energy policy on a number of fronts this week. On Monday, Chris Horner notified the Treasury Department of CEI’s “intent to sue” for all internal communications regarding a cap-and-trade energy tax. Two days later, CEI’s Iain Murray picked apart anti-energy climate legislation introduced this week by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-California) and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts). And on Thursday, Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis responded to the Environmental Protection Agency’s illegal proposal to impose energy rationing on the American economy.


>>Shaping the Debate
Aristocrats Can Afford Car-Free Days
Sam Kazman’s op-ed in the San Francisco Examiner
Net Neutrality Has Many Facets, Some of Them Known
Ryan Radia’s letter in the Wall Street Journal
How to Reduce Unemployment
William Yeatman and John Berlau’s op-ed in the Washington Times
Make Florida More Hurricane Resistant
Eli Lehrer’s op-ed in the Miami Herald


>>Best of the Blogs
Senate Finance Committee Rejects Public Option
by Greg Conko
The Senate Finance Committee, by a 15 to 8 vote, rejected an amendment proposed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller that would have added a government-run, or ”public,” health insurance option to the overhaul proposal.  Joining all ten of the committee’s Republicans in voting “no” were five Democrats, including Baucus, Bill Nelson, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, and Thomas Carper. . . Of course, Liberal Democrats are fuming.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) remain committed to a public option.
7-Eleven serves up Big Gulp of Big Government to Credit Card Consumers
by John Berlau
If Congress acts on 7-Eleven’s misleading petition to put price controls on interchange fees, consumers will pay the price through the reduction of reward programs such as frequent flier miles, and the possible return of annual fees.
New Study on How Government Employee Unions Squeeze Public Budgets
by Ivan Osorio
Now it seems like not a month goes by without another state facing a budget crisis. Now it’s Michigan’s turn. Predictably, state politicians are trying to scare the public with talk of cutting funding for libraries and prisons, in order to make tax increases an easier sell. Also predictably, policy makers appear to be avoiding looking for budget savings where substantial ones could be realized: government payrolls.


>>Liberty Week Podcast
Episode 62: Soak the Rich, Reap the Wind
We start with the semi-proposed allegedly not-a-bailout of the newspaper industry, Steven Chu’s condescending views on energy policy and Google’s copyright troubles in France. We then look at what soaking the rich has done to New York’s finances, Obama’s presence at the UN and a good old fashioned Washington, D.C. corruption scandal.


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Charles Huang
Web and Media Associate
Competitive Enterprise Institute
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