The Country is Not Behind the President’s Regulatory Cap-and-Trade
Today marked the first day of the UN climate conference, or COP21, where the President is again looking to negotiate a deal based on policies that the American people don’t support and that Congress will act against. In an effort to establish credibility on the world stage in reducing carbon emissions, the Obama Administration’s EPA issued new rules that would radically alter our energy sector, causing the price of power in America to go up.
The Administration’s regulatory cap-and-trade flatly ignore the great progress our energy sector has already made to reduce carbon emissions while simultaneously acting as the lone bright spot in our economy. Even as our GDP per capita and population have been increasing, carbon emissions have been going down because the natural gas boom created by hydraulic fracturing has provided an abundant, cleaner energy source right here at home.
But the President isn’t just ignoring the great success of our homegrown energy revolution. His Administration’s cap-and-trade is nearly the same policy a Democrat-controlled Congress blocked in 2010.
The President continues to try and force his will on the American people even when their representatives in Congress rebuke his plans and offer a different vision. But Congress will show the world that whatever the President might say or sign in Paris, if it is anything like his regulatory actions, we do not support it.
What the House Will Do
Tomorrow, the House will use the Congressional Review Act to pass two resolutions disapproving of the EPA’s harmful energy regulations. The Senate already passed these resolutions, meaning after tomorrow they will be sent straight to the President’s desk, making it clear to the Administration and the world that President Obama doesn’t have support at home to continue on his economically harmful agenda.
A Real Alternative
But the House won’t stop there. Later this week, we will submit our own energy plan: The Architecture of Abundance. While energy producers have made great strides in recent years, our infrastructure has not kept up. We need pipelines and electrical grids to get energy from where it is to the people who need it. Chairman Upton’s wide-reaching bill brings American energy policy out of the era of 1970s scarcity and into the 21st century by modernizing our infrastructure, reducing the red tape blocking development, and extending America’s newfound energy freedom to our allies.
For America to succeed—leading the world in safe and abundant energy while also growing our economy—we must embrace the free market principles and spirit of innovation at the heart of our energy renaissance. At the UN climate conference, the President is ignoring what works, and the country isn’t following. Congress is showing the world there is a better way.