A friend sent me an e-mail she received from the Iowa Farm Bureau. Excerpt:
Mary Kay Thatcher, AFBF director of public policy, tells Agriculture Online that Farm Bureau doesn’t anticipate the massive climate change bill passed by the House last week to pass the Senate this year.
And the New York Times reported Tuesday that opposition from Farm Bureau and other agricultural groups threatens to kill the bill in the Senate. The Times reports that groups such as AFBF wield greater clout in the Senate, because members there must be protective of an entire state, rather than a small congressional district.
Here are the links to the Agriculture Online piece and the New York Times article.
The American Farm Bureau Federation lobbied members of the U.S. House to vote for Collin Peterson’s lousy amendments to the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act but against the bill intended to address climate change.
I have my own problems with the ACES bill, especially the deals made to appease the coal industry and Peterson’s colleagues on the House Agriculture Committee. That said, the objections big agribusiness and their Congressional allies have raised against the cap-and-trade approach are off-base and short-sighted.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Farm Bureau’s vote-counter is correct and the Senate rejects the Waxman-Markey bill for the wrong reasons. Frankly, that might be better than letting senators like Claire McCaskill of Missouri make this flawed bill even worse.
2 Comments
I know you are wealthy DesMoinesDem...
But seriously…how many Iowans can afford such huge increases in energy costs? Not me. You may be one of the elite few that can handle the increased costs.
I for one hope this bill goes nowhere and am glad that Tom Latham, my Congressman (as you well know), vote against this.
bill-spencer Fri 3 Jul 1:49 PM
you've been misled
This bill was costed out, and consumers will save money from many of its provisions (like more energy efficient appliances). MidAmerican could save its customers even more money by doing more on the energy efficiency front itself.
No independent experts accept the ridiculous claims made by MidAmerican and others that Waxman-Markey would lead to 20 percent spikes in utility bills.
Latham voted against this bill for all the wrong reasons. He would rather stick his head in the sand and do nothing to combat global warming. Iowa farmers won’t thank him for that 20-25 years down the road when droughts or floods become increasingly common.
desmoinesdem Fri 3 Jul 2:43 PM