10 Senate Democrats Voice Reservations With Waxman-Markey In Letter To Obama

August 06, 2009 By Kathleen Hart

In a letter expressing serious reservations about the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, 10 Senate Democrats wrote to President Barack Obama on Aug. 6 saying they would have a hard time supporting any climate change legislation that lacks strong measures to ensure the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.

"Climate change is a reality and the world cannot afford inaction. However, we must not engage in a self-defeating effort that displaces greenhouse gas emissions rather than reducing them and displaces U.S. jobs rather than bolstering them," the 10 Democratic senators told the president. "It is essential that climate change legislation include a border mechanism, sufficient allowances to energy intensive industries and other effective measures that encourage international agreements and maintain a level playing field for American manufacturers. We would find it extremely difficult to support a final measure that does not effectively deal with these important issues."

Signing the letter to Obama were Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin of Michigan, Al Franken of Minnesota, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Robert Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, and Russell Feingold of Wisconsin.

The senators said any cap-and-trade bill must include provisions to maintain "a level playing field for American manufacturing," which accounts for more than 10% of the nation's economy. They also noted that manufacturing jobs pay 20% more on average than service jobs and have a strong multiplier effect. Any climate change legislation "must prevent the export of jobs and related greenhouse gas emissions to countries that fail to take actions to combat the threat of global warming comparable to those taken by the United States."