Return to PayGo Rule Kills Dirty Energy Bill!

February 26th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

The fossil industry and its media mouthpieces have been pushing the idea that only the energy-only bill in the Senate can pass. Reuters, the NYT, the WSJ regularly come out with doctored quotes like this to push the idea that the climate and clean energy bill is dead, and that only the energy-only bill is passable.

They quote Republican Senators as saying that the climate bill is dead. They don’t mention that Republicans have never supported climate legislation, so this is not new news, and does not in fact represent the chances of legitimate climate and clean energy legislation passing with more Democrats than ever and the two Republicans (Collins and Snowe) who’ve always voted right on clean energy.

Regardless of the fossil industry stranglehold on the corporate media, however, a little-covered action by the Obama administration last week quietly stuck the nail in the coffin of the energy-only bill. Under PayGo – fiscal responsibility was just signed back into law again last week.

As a result, with “pay as you go” rules back in effect, the congress now cannot pass any legislation that does not pay for itself – such as the energy-only bill.

The much touted energy-only bill is exactly such a piece of fiscally poor legislation, because it adds $13 billion a year to the deficit. The CBO score is lousy. (PDF)

Its spends $36 billion a year to supply a paltry $3 billion a year for renewable energy. (The remainder is mostly spent on a vast new bureaucracy to disburse this princely sum, and $10 billion a year for nukes and fossil energy)

With PayGo in effect, there is zero chance that President Obama can sign the dirty energy only bill. By law.

By contrast – CEJAPA, the cap and trade climate and energy bill developed over years by the Democrats, which started as the Waxman, Jeffords, Sanders, Boxer, Kerry, Lieberman, and now (R) Graham bill – on the other hand….described as the Gold Standard of Climate Bills as long ago as 2006 by the Union of Concerned Scientists?

That bill would easily meet PayGo rules, with a fiscally sound CBO score (PDF). The Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act generates over $800 billion to really ramp up renewable energy, and it spins off a $21 billion surplus to reduce the deficit. Stay tuned…

Image: Blackwaterdog

Source: Ecoseed

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