Manzullo to Vote Against Job-Killing Cap and Tax Bill, Support Pro-Energy Alternative

June 26, 2009

[WASHINGTON] Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL) will vote against the job-killing cap and tax bill when it comes to the House floor today because it will give foreign companies a huge competitive advantage over American manufacturers, putting 2.5 million more Americans out of work without ensuring a cleaner environment for future generations.

The legislation puts severe limits on energy usage in the United States and could double or triple energy costs for most American manufacturers, putting them at a huge disadvantage with their competitors from China, India and other foreign countries not required to comply with such limits. A study by the National Black Chamber of Commerce estimates the bill would devastate U.S. manufacturers, causing many to go overseas to avoid the energy taxes and putting 2.5 million Americans out of work by 2030.

Manzullo attempted to amend the bill to eliminate the International Climate Change Adaptation Program, which would give companies in China, India and other “developing nations” up to 4 percent of the overall allowable carbon credits, taking them away from U.S. manufacturers and forcing American companies to essentially pay for the continued pollution of their primary competitors in China and India. Democrat House leaders would not even allow Manzullo’s amendment to come to the floor for a vote.

In addition, the energy caps will cause the price of American-made products to surge along with the utility bills of American families. President Obama himself – while on the campaign trail last year – said his cap and trade bill would cause electricity rates to “necessarily skyrocket.”

“At a time when unemployment is over 10 percent in northern Illinois and many employers are struggling to survive, this misguided cap and tax bill will put millions more Americans out of work and surge utility costs for all Americans. And amazingly, it will not ensure a cleaner environment for future generations because the biggest polluters in the world – China and India – have indicated their desire to keep the pedal to the floor and continue polluting at will,” Manzullo said “Some scientists even say that if we completely eliminated all carbon emissions from the United States tomorrow, China and India would replace all of it in the atmosphere within 10 years. This is mind-boggling.”

Manzullo supports alternative legislation that promotes innovation, conservation, and responsible production of energy as a way to achieve America’s energy independence and a cleaner, healthier planet.

The American Energy Innovation Act represents a fiscally responsible approach to reducing our dependence on foreign energy, providing a cleaner environment, and putting Americans to work by:

• Encouraging innovation within the energy market to create the renewable fuel options and energy careers of tomorrow.
• Promoting greater conservation and efficiency by providing incentives for easing energy demand and creating a cleaner, more sustainable environment.
• Increasing the production of American energy by responsibly utilizing all available resources and technologies and streamlining burdensome regulations.

For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact Rich Carter 815-356-9800.

"Stand Firm"

by Chicago Tribune Editorial Board
June 18, 2009

"[W]e will never see reforms if we just go ahead and send more money to the same old rotten system that's produced the mess that we're in right now." -- Illinois Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno, June 17, 2009.

Yes, yes, yes.

The current Democratic strategy for passing a state income tax increase couldn't be more transparent: Blame minority Republicans for all the horrors that allegedly will occur if -- for lack of more taxing power -- Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn chooses to slash spending on social services.

Senate President John Cullerton, House Speaker Michael Madigan, good luck with that one: Your party owns Springfield. Yet after failing to stop Illinois from chronically overspending by the billions, you expect voters to now blame the minority party for ... not helping you pass a Democratic-sponsored tax increase?

Do citizens look that gullible? It isn't the Republicans who couldn't muster enough Democratic votes for a big tax increase a few weeks ago. Mr. Cullerton, we were particularly amused by your comment Tuesday that there's no point in resuming this budget debate until Republicans identify the tax hike they're willing to support.

The truth here is much simpler: GOP leaders Christine Radogno in the Senate and Tom Cross in the House want to repair how state government dishes out taxpayers' dollars. They have the leverage now to insist on that. Good for them.

Better the Democrats start listening to what Radogno and Cross keep explaining: Illinoisans don't want to shovel more money to Springfield until the legislature and governor adopt spending reforms. That includes revising a too-generous pension calculation for new hires, moving Medicaid recipients to managed care, canceling all pork spending -- the list of needed fixes goes on and on.

Radogno and Cross also want the Democrats to stop pretending they've passed significant ethics reforms. Cullerton and Madigan scuttled one anti-corruption measure after another rather than let their members vote on every proposal from the Illinois Reform Commission. It's not too late to revisit that. How does next week sound?

The people of this state might wind up sending more tax revenue to Springfield. But Radogno and Cross have their priorities straight, and we hope the members of their GOP caucuses don't wilt as the pressure for a tax increase builds: Major reforms have to come first.

"Unemployment in America"

WASHINGTON - Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement today:

“Today, the White House confirmed that the Democrat economic stimulus bill is simply not creating the jobs President Obama promised. Simply put, the White House spin doesn’t square with reality. Since President Obama signed the so-called ‘stimulus’ package, 1.5 million Americans have lost their jobs making the unemployment rate soar to a 26 year high. Families today are struggling to pay their bills, make their mortgage payments, and send their kids to college. Republicans want to work with the president to get our economy back on track, but the president seems intent on promoting and adopting some of the most liberal and reckless government intervention economic policies we have ever seen.”

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT JOBS

GENERAL MOTORS: The Government's Ownership Stake in GM Came Only After Its Initial $19 Billion Bailout Failed to Keep the Company Out of Bankruptcy. "The plan, laid out in an SEC filing, would give the government a 72.5 percent stake in a new GM, but the administration said it could cost taxpayers another $30 billion, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. Washington has already invested more than $19 billion to keep GM's motor running. But people familiar with GM's plans said the automaker would still file for bankruptcy protection on Monday." ("Report: GM Set For June 1 Bankruptcy," CBS News, 5/28/09)

According to a USA Today Review, The Federal Stimulus Money Has Yet to Reach States Where Unemployment Has Hit Hardest. "Nationwide, federal agencies have awarded nearly $4 billion in contracts to help jump-start the economy since President Obama signed the massive stimulus package in February. But, with few exceptions, that money has not reached states where the unemployment rate is highest, according to a USA TODAY review of contracts disclosed through the Federal Procurement Data System." (Brad Heath, "Stimulus Projects Bypass Hard-Hit States," USA Today, 5/28/09)

"Keep Demanding Reform", a Chicago Tribune Editorial

Citizens, congratulations. Your relentless pressure on Democrats in the Illinois legislature has kept them from greasing a big tax increase without doing the difficult work that needs to come first. This is a moment of great opportunity: Keep demanding reform in ethics and spending from those Democrats -- and from Republicans who need to stay resolute and united.

Solidarity from Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno and House Minority Leader Tom Cross also has helped block the tax-hike plans of Democrats -- lawmakers who don't want to wear the jacket for their years of overspending. Many Democrats had hoped that if they voiced enough threats about alleged (and often exaggerated) horrors that would descend on Illinois without fat tax increases, they could persuade their members, and some Republicans, too, to raise revenues by the gazillions.

Hasn't worked. The Republicans correctly have insisted on tough spending and ethics reforms before they even consider big tax increases. And enough Illinois Democrats have seen the Cook County Board's current agony to understand that voters won't pay more money to overextended and inefficient governments without complaint.

Thirty-one Senate Democrats, plus 42 in the House, must be a sking why they went on record over the weekend as favoring major income-tax increases. Those rival proposals were so doomed that neither chamber even bothered to vote on the other's bill.

With the legislative session now in overtime, Republicans have more muscle: If Democrats want to fully fund the state budget, they'll need some GOP assistance. Democrats from Gov. Pat Quinn -- he of "cut, cut, cut" fame -- on down are correct that Illinois doesn't have enough money to meet all of its obligations. The Democrats will be tempted to score political points by slashing needed social services as a substitute for structural reforms. They'll be playing the rest of us for chumps if they don't make serious fixes to how this state operates:

--House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton need to embrace, rather than keep dodging, the many excellent suggestions from think tanks and others on how to restructure the state bureaucracy and streamline much of what Springfield does: pensions, Medicaid, education and other costly endeavors. Employees unions and clouted interest groups oppose these best-practices solutions. But Illinois can't keep spending more than recession-battered taxpayers and employers can afford.

--Pass more, and tougher, ethics legislation from the Illinois Reform Commission. Citizens have seen how Madigan, Cullerton & Co. have hidden from reforms that would diminish their power. Enough of that obstructionism. Illinois is broken -- and you, Democratic leaders, are failing us all.

Legislators eventually will face voters. The question then will be whether this session ended with dramatic spending and ethics reforms -- or if it ended in a fusillade of job-killing tax increases and little else.

Read the original copy here.
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