CSPAN Reporter Says Close, but "They Probably Have the Votes"
Correction: Voting Now

Voting: Seven Republicans, and climbing, have voted for this abortion so far.

31 Democrats have voted against it.

I don't know how the last 50 so votes will come out. It's close. But I'm guessing the rest of the democrats will vote for it.

I don't know if there will be a delay, but if there is, phone calls might help.

Earlier Drew posted Michelle Malkin's round-up of wavering Congressmen to contact.

ConservativeHQ just forwarded me another list of persuadable Congressmen. This time, with their phone numbers included.

Conservative author and radio host Mark Levin, who called this bill a "direct assault" on the people of America, has identified 25 Representatives in Congress who are waffling on this issue. Please call them RIGHT NOW and tell them to vote "NO" on Cap and Trade.

Republicans:
Bartlett (MD) – (202) 225-2721
Bono Mack (CA) - (202) 225-5330
Castle (DE) – (202) 225-4165
Dent (PA) – (202) 225-6411
Ehlers (MI) - (202) 225-3831
Frelinghuysen (NJ) - (202) 225-5034
Gerlach (PA) – (202) 225.4315
Inglis (SC) - (202) 225-6030
Tim Johnson (IL) – (202) 225-2371
Kirk (IL) – (202) 225-4835
Lance (NJ) - (202) 225-5361
LoBiondo (NJ) - (202) 225-6572
Petri (WI) – (202) 225-2476
Platts (PA) - (202) 225-5836
Ros-Lehtinen (FL) – (202) 225-3931

Democrats:
Altmire (PA) – (202) 225-2565
Bright (AL) - (202) 225-2901
Dahlkemper (PA) - (202) 225-5406
Drieshaus (OH) - (202) 225-2216
Ellsworth (IN) - (202) 225-4636
Kissell (NC) - (202) 225-3715
Kratovil (MD) - (202) 225-5311
Kanjorski (PA) - (202) 225-6511
Minnick (ID) - (202) 225-6611
Teague (NM) - (202) 225-2365

Print this email, sit by your phone, and take time to call as many of these Representatives as you can.

Here is what you can say:

"Hi, my name is [your name], and I am deeply worried about the impact of Cap and Trade legislation on my life and the economy, including the massive tax increase that would result. I strongly urge Representative [Name of Rep.] to vote 'NO' on the 'Waxman-Markey' bill. Thank you for taking my call."

How bad is it? This bad.

To get support for his bill, Mr. Waxman was forced to water down the cap in early years to please rural Democrats, and then severely ratchet it up in later years to please liberal Democrats. The CBO's analysis looks solely at the year 2020, before most of the tough restrictions kick in. As the cap is tightened and companies are stripped of initial opportunities to "offset" their emissions, the price of permits will skyrocket beyond the CBO estimate of $28 per ton of carbon. The corporate costs of buying these expensive permits will be passed to consumers.

The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy.

In other words, the "costs" examined are merely the costs of salaries and phones and computers and Post-Its for the people administering this program -- the actual costs just to hire bureaucrats to sabotage the American economy.

Not the costs those bureaucrats in turn inflict on us all.

The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."

The hit to GDP is the real threat in this bill. ,b>The whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. These higher prices will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars. Consumers will cut back on spending, which in turn will cut back on production, which results in fewer jobs created or higher unemployment. Some companies will instead move their operations overseas, with the same result.

When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman-Markey, it broadly compared the economy with and without the carbon tax. Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill's restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.

...

Even as Democrats have promised that this cap-and-trade legislation won't pinch wallets, behind the scenes they've acknowledged the energy price tsunami that is coming. During the brief few days in which the bill was debated in the House Energy Committee, Republicans offered three amendments: one to suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon; one to suspend the program if electricity prices rose 10% over 2009; and one to suspend the program if unemployment rates hit 15%. Democrats defeated all of them.

Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are destroying the country with a Shock and Awe bombardment. They rush enormous bills which change the basic foundations of the American economy through the Congress, with only a day (or less!) to read 1500 page abominations. No one has read any of these bills. No one.

The American public is not only not permitted to debate and consider, but they're blocked from even knowing a debate is going on at all. The rush of one huge bill after another is working the way it's intended to work: Massive, economy-destroying bills are being rammed through Congress without being read or debated because Obama and Pelosi and Reid don't want the bills to be read or debated. They just want these bills passed.

Whatever these bills might actually contain -- something we'll all be discovering later.

They don't want to give the opposition time to read these bills, because then they might actually be able to warn the American people about what's in them.

It's Close: How close? This close.

5:17pm: Connie Hair reports from top GOP sources that Dems have pulled Patrick Kennedy out of rehab to vote.

Yes, it’s that close.

Via Michelle Malkin, thanks to Paranoid Polly. Michelle continues her liveblog. Rep. Barton mentioned Spain's own experiment with a very similar scheme -- an experiment that destroyed jobs and wealth for no tangible gain whatsoever.

Call! Just Another Poster writes:

They are still a few votes short. That doesn't mean the votes can not be corralled, it just means they do not have them at this point. Calls cannot hurt at this point. They need 3-5 more from what I am hearing.

Based on what is happening on the floor, that seems to confirm things. If they had the votes, this thing would have been put to the vote ASAP.

Might also be a good time to call Patrick Kennedy and tell 'im you just scored a brick of very tasty, very sticky Silver Shiva.

Check Out This Exchange. A bewildered GOP Representative wants to know if he can even read the 300 page amendment written secretly last night at 3 am.

His answer? No, we don't really have it. And look it up on the internet. That may or may not be the bill you're voting on.

From Michelle again:

4:05pm: Excellent exchange between chair and GOP Rep. Louis Gohmert. He asks for a physical copy of the 300-page-plus late-night amendment filed out of public view. Chair cannot tell him where one is. Rules him out of order for not making parliamentary inquiry. Chair stumped.

Barton asks chair if there is any rule requiring copy of bill being voted on to be nearby. Chair: Not that I’m aware of.

Barton asks if official copy is necessary to be at desk for final vote.

Chair says it’s at the desk. Barton says it’s not the official copy. Markey tells him to go to the cloakroom and look it up on the web.

Markey says the full bill and manager’s amendment is on the desk.

Chair rules that all the piles of paper at the desk “in effect” are an “official copy.”

Similarly, the bill contains a "placeholder" -- an empty area to be modified/determined later, after the vote.

That means there is no bill. You cannot add or modify a "bill" after its passed, except by... voting on a bill. You can't just edit it later.

At approx. 2:35pm Eastern, GOP Rep. Joe Barton announced that there is now a placeholder in the bill to be determined later.

Barton notes that this is unprecedented. He can’t recall any final passage of a bill that has a placeholder in it.

What the hell is going on?

This is deliberation? This is transparency?

Update: I don't know if Boehner has an "official" copy of the amendment yet, or if he's going from something he got online. But he's reading the amendment, or something like the amendment, or rather picking out certain passages page-by-page and objecting to them.

The thing is, he's making up his objections off the top of his head, pretty much. That's because this is pretty much the first time he's been allowed to read the amendment (or something like the amendment) he's supposed to vote on.

It's very boring. But what can he do? He hasn't had the chance to any serious analysis of this abortion.

Correction: Voting Now&bodytext=Voting: Seven Republicans, and climbing, have voted for this abortion so far. 31 Democrats have voted against it. I don't know how the last 50 so votes will come out. It's close. But I'm guessing the rest of the democrats...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 04:37 PM

| Access Comments