You don't need a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing in the Senate on cap-and-trade legislation. Yesterday, after several revealing votes showed just how tough it will be to pass a meaningful climate change bill in Congress, Olympia Snowe, the Republican moderate from Maine, said this to Politico:
It's a complicated issue to tackle at a time when the economy is weak.
Just how complicated? An amendment introduced by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) would
require that such [climate change] legislation does not increase electricity or gasoline prices.
As Politico reports, "Thune's measure won 89-8, even though it appeared to contradict the whole purpose of most cap-and trade schemes." "Appeared to" is putting it mildly. Roger Pielke, Jr., over at Prometheus, accurately captures the vote's meaning:
What is this? Climate change legislation cannot increase electricity or gasoline prices? The entire purpose of cap and trade is in fact ...
