Cap-and-Trade Would Slow Economy, CBO Chief Says

A House-passed bill that targets climate change through a cap-and-trade system of pollution credits would slow the nation's economic growth slightly over the next few decades and would create "significant" job losses from fossil fuel industries as the country shifts to renewable energy, the head of the Congressional Budget Office told a Senate energy panel Wednesday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/14/AR2009101404054.html

Here we go again Washington professes to creating jobs, but then again it pushes legislation forward that hampers economic growth. Cap & Trade passed the House in July, but stalled in the Senate when moderate to conservative Democrats put a halt to it after being blasted by their constituents. A segment was added into Cap & Trade legislation at the midnight hour that added environmental changes unto residential and commercial properties before they are sold. As with the Stimulus Package, most members could not possibly have read over 1,000 pages of the legislation before voting on it. There language inserted left it ambiguous as to what those environmental changes would be. Washington constantly wants to create economic opportunity but again it passes legislation making it harder for small businesses to generate economic growth. Maybe if more members in Washington actually ran a business at some point in their life, instead of attorneys this nation would be better off.