WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement today at the beginning of the committee’s hearings on the Waxman-Markey global warming discussion draft. The chairman and ranking member of the full committee will deliver their opening statements when the hearing resumes on Wednesday morning.

For a copy of the Republican memo on the Waxman-Markey global warming bill, click here.

“Mr. Chairman, thank you for calling this hearing.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you like the idea of reducing your carbon footprint to the size that this legislation proposes, you can test drive these carbon emissions levels by living in Nigeria. Or, if you can somehow move in time, you won’t even have to leave home. Just set the dial of your time machine for 1875 to find Americans whose carbon emissions matched the goals of this legislation.

“Isn’t it interesting that so many people seem so determined to raise energy prices in this country?  President Obama says capping carbon and trading emissions permits will make electricity bills 'necessarily skyrocket.' But the ones for whom global warming is a new religion believe that humanity’s carbon dioxide is the devil’s brew, and they think that we can achieve salvation only by putting our faith in the federal government. The government will offer indulgences in the form of emissions permits, and we will all atone for our past sins by paying for them through new and expensive energy taxes.

“Please pardon my skepticism, but the sort of blind faith that is demanded of us now always seems to precede some kind of misbehavior. I think that happens sometimes because mixed in with the true believers are the common opportunists. This will shock you, I know, but some say that the Obama administration plans to cash in on cap-and-trade as a way to pay for its many programs, and I also hear that other people expect to make fortunes by trading in the new currency of carbon emission allowances. People who used to be suspicious of cap and trade now support it, but only so long as they get their indulgences in the form of free allocations.

“The dark side of economic opportunity will always be a seedy yearning to profit from misfortune. The trouble is, they don’t really profit in the long run. For an honest business plan to work, the U.S. economy usually must be rising, so that we can afford the extra cost we will have to pay for desirable goods and services. And when an economic sinkhole opens, everybody falls in, including bureaucrats, charities, and even opportunists.

“That’s why the debate is not about whether cap and trade legislation will raise energy costs; the only dispute is by how much. We had hoped for a CBO score of this discussion draft. But, the CBO unfortunately told us they could not score it without the actual numbers on allocations. So, that leaves us with a hurry-up set of hearings this week on a discussion draft that is missing all the details that matter. We will hear the draft’s proponents assure us that this scheme will create jobs and help industry thrive. The proponents will claim that costs—where necessary—are very minimal.

“The independent scoring that has been done on similar proposals paints a different picture. When the Senate considered cap and trade legislation last summer, the proponents of energy rationing ran up against real people who either do not share their fervor, or think U.S. energy costs are high enough already. They simply did not accept further energy cost increases, especially those forced on them by politicians. With a cap and trade scheme like that proposed by Chairmen Waxman and Markey, households can expect energy cost increases up to $3,128 per year. Your electricity bill will increase by 77 to 129 percent. Filling up your gas tank will cost anywhere from 60 to 144 percent more. The cost of home heating oil and natural gas will nearly double. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle if they are prepared to tell the hard-working families of their districts that the air conditioner they can only afford to run 30 percent of the time or the car they can only afford to drive half the distance is because we felt energy prices needed to ‘skyrocket’?

“As long as we’re talking about the increases in energy costs, let’s talk about the costs to our society as well. Close your eyes and visualize the empty storefronts, closed restaurants, and foreclosed properties in your hometown. How many businesses have folded, or will fold, because of skyrocketing energy prices? How much higher must unemployment creep before we realize that we are sabotaging our way of life in the name of carbon dioxide? Michigan has an unemployment rate of 12 percent. Indiana has a 10 percent unemployment rate. Ohio is at 9.7 percent. California and Georgia are both suffering at 9.2 percent unemployment. On top of these sky-high unemployment rates, the Democrats are pushing a cap-and-trade proposal that will cause millions of American jobs to be sent overseas. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, an estimated 3 to 4 million net jobs will be lost under a cap and trade scheme like the Waxman-Markey draft. According to the Heritage Foundation, between 1.8 and 5.3 million would be destroyed; and Charles Rivers Associates estimated job losses as high as 7 million. Expect to buy Chinese cement, Egyptian fertilizer, and Indian steel, because there is little protection for industry jobs that rely heavily on affordable and dependable baseload power. In our crippled economy, can we really afford another giant misstep? 

“Mr. Chairman, we cannot kick our economy while it is down. Instead of supporting the notion that skyrocketing energy prices are good for America, let’s get busy accelerating the development and deployment of low-carbon technologies and getting American workers back at what they do best: working. Under the Waxman-Markey draft we are capping our economy and trading away our jobs. We are instituting a regressive energy tax on Americans already enduring high unemployment, lost 401(k)s, and rampant home foreclosures. The Waxman-Markey discussion draft is a web of increased regulation that will entangle the economy into paralysis. I cannot in good conscience support such a proposal.

“And finally, a few thoughts about the hearings this week. Tuesday morning, all 23 of the Republicans on this Committee sent Chairman Waxman and Chairman Markey a letter in which we respectfully requested further hearings on a number of items. I am not going to read that letter, but I would like to ask unanimous consent to include a copy in the hearing record today. It raises important issues which is a reflection of the fact that there are many people in this country who have many questions about this legislation.

“Thank you, I yield back.”