For the first time, the United States House of Representatives has voted to oppose a carbon tax.
The House voted 237-176 on Friday to pass an anti-carbon tax amendment authored by Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.)
“President Obama’s plan to impose a tax on carbon would cause household electricity rates to skyrocket while destroying millions of American jobs,” Scalise said. “The House sent a strong bipartisan message to President Obama that a tax on carbon would devastate our economy and he needs to drop any idea of imposing this kind of radical regulation. The Obama Administration has used every trick in the book to implement its radical agenda through back door regulations. This amendment is necessary to prohibit a carbon tax from being imposed by unelected bureaucrats on behalf of the President without legislative action and oversight.”
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said that the Scalise amendment – which Camp supports – erects a roadblock that would stop President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency from taking unilateral action and imposing an energy tax without congressional approval.
“Struggling Americans who have been unable to find a job or have not seen their paychecks grow would be hit with this national energy tax every time they pay their utility bills or fill up their gas tanks or go to the grocery store,” Camp said. “It would also be another tax on manufacturers and another increased cost of doing business imposed on middle-class families by the Obama administration.”