I think the majority of Americans will agree that we all want energy-efficient ways to produce electricity, including using renewable resources. However, what happened in the U.S. House of Representatives a little over a week ago is nearly unforgivable.
In a narrow vote (219 -212) the House passed the climate change bill (HR2454) better known as the Waxman-Markey Bill named after Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Edward Markey, D-Mass. Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, ensured that constituents in his home state were covered but seemingly had little regard for the farmers in the Midwest. The cap-and-trade bill he designed and modified would work by slowly lowering the number of permits for emitting carbon dioxide available to utilities, manufacturers and other companies.
California would receive 200 percent of the credits it needs to meet the new emission standards, while Missouri would receive only 60 percent of its needed credits. Missouri utility companies would have to buy additional credits on the open market. What this means to Missouri electric consumers is that our electric bill will more than double.
Also hit hard will be Missouri’s farmers who use petroleum products in every aspect of their livelihood from the tractors, combines and other machinery to the trucks that deliver their goods. It is projected that this one bill will decrease a farmer’s average net income by 57 percent. As if they’re not having a tough enough time as it is. With almost all family farmers today, with the exception of the huge commercial operations, the husband and wife hold outside jobs to help make ends meet. They cannot support themselves by farming alone.
This bill was more than 1,200 pages long, which is a lot to digest. Forty-one Democrats voted against the bill, and seven Republicans crossed party lines and voted in favor.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri’s 9th District, stated, “This bill will increase taxes, eliminate jobs or drive them offshore and raise the energy costs of those hard-working farm families trying to make ends meet.”
I congratulate Luetkemeyer who stuck to his guns and voted against this bill; other Missouri representatives who voted for their people and against the bill: Sam Graves, 6th District (this district includes most of Blue Springs and parts of Independence as well as Bucker and Levasy); Todd Akin, 2nd District; Roy Blunt, 7th District; and Jo Ann Emerson, 8th District.
