So much for the cap-and-trade rebates for consumers:
Dems’ climate bill shortchanges Obama tax credit
WASHINGTON — The House Democrats’ bill to limit gases blamed for global warming would generate a fraction of the money President Barack Obama wanted to get from it to pay for a middle-class tax credit.
Leaders of the House Energy Committee officially introduced the 932-page legislation on Friday, revealing critical details in advance of the panel taking a vote on the measure by the end of next week. The bill — the American Clean Energy and Security Act — would for the first time mandate reductions in the heat-trapping gases linked to global warming, and also shift the country toward cleaner energy sources.
The bill would cap emissions from large industrial sources at a certain level, and distribute permits to companies to meet increasingly lower pollution targets.
In his budget, Obama called for auctioning off 100 percent of the pollution permits, a strategy that would have raised nearly $650 billion over the next decade. Most of the money would have paid for a tax credit to offset higher energy prices expected to be passed down from industries as they reduce the pollution that causes global warming.
But House Democrats said Friday they plan to auction only 15 percent of the allowances to help lower- and middle-income families pay for higher energy bills. The rest will be given away to a variety of industries and states to ease costs and to help pay for improvements in energy efficiency and investments in clean-energy technology.