Lieberman-McCain Bill Would Place Hidden Tax on Consumers

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Contact for Interviews:

Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273

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Washington, D.C., October 29, 2003—The Senate is poised this week to debate a bill, S. 139, sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ) to enact the first-ever mandatory restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.  This proposal would create a mechanism similar to that called for by the Kyoto Protocol, increasing the price of energy and setting the stage for even more stringent limits in the future.

“The cap-and-trade approach to rationing energy use would be a hidden tax on all Americans,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Global Warming Policy at CEI.  “The Lieberman-McCain bill is pointless political grandstanding and a shameless con game.  They assure us that the initial costs will be low, but hope that we won’t notice how expensive it quickly becomes.  The Kyoto Protocol was always a dead-end approach and now it’s dead, and Senators Lieberman and McCain need to get over it and move on to some other fashionable big government cause.”

Even if enacted, emissions reductions in the United States would have virtually no effect on global greenhouse gas levels.  Large-scale emitters like China and India are increasing energy use rapidly and have emphatically rejected any limits on their emissions now and in the future.  Any attempt to decrease emissions by rationing energy in the U. S., although extremely harmful to our economy, would be overwhelmed in coming decades by emissions increases in the developing world.