[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 60 (Thursday, April 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H4693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE REAL COST OF CAP-AND-TRADE LEGISLATION

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, this week, House Democrats begin hearings on 
so-called ``cap-and-trade'' legislation. It is their legislative 
response to concerns over global climate change. Even former Vice 
President Al Gore will testify tomorrow here on Capitol Hill. But as 
many around the country and in this body are realizing, there are a lot 
of inconvenient truths about the cap-and-trade bill.
  The Democrat plan actually caps growth and trades jobs, and the truth 
is this cap-and-trade legislation is essentially an economic 
declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals in Washington, D.C., and 
it must be opposed.
  Under the Democratic plan, estimates suggest the average American 
household could face more than $3,000 a year in higher energy costs, 
and people in the Midwest, like us in Indiana, will bear the largest 
burden. Even the President, as candidate, said, ``Under my plan of cap-
and-trade, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.'' We can only 
estimate these numbers, Mr. Speaker, because the Democratic plan 
includes no numbers.
  The truth is the American people deserve to know what all this is 
going to cost. The Democrats and the Congress need to come clean about 
the cost of their cap-and-trade bill, and when they do, this Congress 
and the American people will reject it.

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