The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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June 25, 2009

Climate bill should be killed

The U.S. House of Representatives could vote today on a bill that will impose huge costs on American manufacturers, drive up electricity rates and kick off a trade war with the rest of the world.

President Barack Obama has made combating global warming a major part of his domestic agenda and congressional Democrats have responded with a bill that would limit carbon emissions and create a system that would allow businesses to buy and sell carbon credits.

Democrats say the bill won’t cost jobs. In fact, they argue it will create jobs.

They know this isn’t the case because they have put into the bill measures that will impose high tariffs on goods that are imported from countries that don’t limit their carbon emissions, an acknowledgment that manufacturing will flee America to lower-cost countries if this bill passes.

Since China and India and other countries don’t seem as willing to impoverish their citizens as the United States government, their leaders have said they aren’t going to impose such strict carbon limits. They’ve also indicated they will retaliate against any American attempts to limit their goods by imposing barriers to U.S.-made goods.

The bill would also pit existing businesses, which will be given generous carbon credits to buy their silence, against new and growing businesses, which would have to buy carbon credits from those firms to thrive.

If there’s anything the American economy doesn’t need, especially in the midst of a recession, it’s more taxes and less trade. That’s especially true for the Dalton area, which relies so heavily on manufacturing for its jobs.

Congress must defeat this bill.

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