Who Wins, Who Loses? Everything Up for Grabs as Waxman Scours for Votes

New debate centers on who should get thecarve-outs, who should get stuck with the tab

Washington,DC – After marathon hearings inthe House Energy and Commerce Committee last week debating the largest, mostregressive tax plan ever brought before Congress, Chairman Henry Waxman(D-Calif.), appears to have left many questions unanswered. Chief among them:how he plans to carve up the bill, and to whom he plans to extend the patronageof upfront emission “allowances.”

“Afterweeks of hearings and backroom deal-making, Chairman Waxman has yet to tell theAmerican people what this energy tax will cost, and the adverse impact it willhave on their everyday life,” said Thomas J. Pyle, president of the AmericanEnergy Alliance (AEA). “The fact that families are already struggling to makeends meet, it is reprehensible for Congress to add yet another tax to a familybudget that’s already stretched past its breaking point.”

According to recent studies, administrationcomments, and analysis, the Waxman-Markey energy tax will cost families thousandsof dollars, increase the price of energy, and send evenmore American jobs overseas to countries that embrace the notion of affordable energy,but reject the notion of lifting a finger to protect or preserve theirenvironment.

“TheAmerican people are beginning to catch on and see this proposal for what itreally is:  a great big, job killing, energy tax,” continued Pyle. “Oncethe chairman comes clean on that fact, he might consider taking on theremaining questions – like whom we should expect to see win a favorablecarve-out in his bill, and who will bear the brunt of this historic burden.”

The AEA launched an educationand advocacy campaign last week aimed at helping Americans understand the facts behindthis massiveenergy tax. This ongoing campaign has thus far yielded a positive reaction fromfamilies in the 10 targeted Congressional districts.