If Tim Walz had his way, the U.S. would have ended up like Europe: buried in climate red tape and unable to secure energy independence
As a congressman, Tim Walz voted for cap and trade. Walz said he was “very proud” to have voted for it.
Walz was key to House Democrats’ 2009 passage of their cap-and-trade legislation, a 1,427-page bill which would have imposed an enormous tax increase, saddled households with significantly higher costs, created a vast government intrusion into the economy, and buried the U.S. in endless European-style climate red tape.
The bill Walz voted for was authored by fracking opponent Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) a hard-left coastal progressive. If enacted, it could have stifled the nascent American fracking revolution in places like Pennsylvania and prevented the eventual U.S. energy independence achieved by fracking.
Walz said: “I’m very proud to have voted for Cap-and-Trade in the United States Congress.”
Details:
- Walz voted in favor of the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” which would have imposed a national cap-and-trade system in the United States. That vote took place on June 26, 2009 when Walz was a member of the U.S. House.
- A cap-and-trade system would have imposed an arbitrary government “cap” on the amount of carbon emissions a company is allowed to produce. American manufacturers would have had to purchase credits from Washington and then purchase additional credits from other factories if their business results in additional carbon emissions.
- Every American would have been hit with higher energy prices and higher prices on products that use energy inputs.
- A 2009 analysis from Americans for Tax Reform reported that implementation of the Walz-supported cap-and-trade bill would have increased taxes by $646 billion dollars over its first ten years, as noted in the Obama administration’s budget.
- Once fully phased in, the tax placed on Americans would have increased to $100 billion per year, or at least $1 trillion extrapolated over a period of ten years. The same analysis predicted an average $3,100 tax on every American family.
- The bill passed the House with a slim margin of 219-212, due to then-Congressman Walz’s affirmative vote. Notably, 44 House Democrats at the time voted against the bill, deciding that the proposals were too extreme for them. A $1 trillion tax increase was apparently not too extreme for Tim Walz. Thankfully, the cap-and-trade legislation fell apart in the Senate and even hard left Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid decided not to bring it up for a vote in that chamber.
- If Tim Walz had his way, the U.S. would have found itself in a similar position to Europe: buried in climate red tape and unable to secure energy independence, let alone energy dominance.
It is no wonder that left wing climate activist groups are praising the selection of Walz as Kamala Harris’s running mate:
“We applaud Vice President Harris for choosing a running mate who shares her commitment to acting on climate and know that together, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will build on the Biden-Harris administration’s historic progress on climate, clean energy, environmental justice, conservation, democracy, and so much more,” wrote Tiernan Sittenfeld, SVP of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund.
Americans who have lived through the Biden-Harris administration’s skyrocketing energy prices, expensive electric vehicle mandates, attempts to restrict gas appliances, and support for energy tax increases know that the Harris-Walz ticket’s plan to “build on” those policies is bad news for the average household.
Here is the video where Walz said, “I’m very proud to have voted for Cap-and-Trade in the United States Congress.”
Stay tuned to ATR’s Kamalanomics.org for updates.