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Burgess Votes Against Detrimental Cap And Trade Proposal

Says cap and trade will cause more harm than any other bill in history

Washington, June 26, 2009
U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement following the House of Representatives’ narrow passage of HR 2454, the Waxman/Markey Cap and Trade bill by a 219-212 vote: “Tonight I stood up for Texans and Americans and voted ‘no’ on the Democrats’ detrimental cap and trade proposal. “In the Energy and Commerce Committee, I sat through almost 40 hours of discussion on an almost 1,000-page bill and debated over 100 amendments, including three of my own. I watched as Democrat Committee members blocked all Republican attempts to make this bill better.
U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement following the House of Representatives’ narrow passage of HR 2454, the Waxman/Markey Cap and Trade bill by a 219-212 vote:

“Tonight I stood up for Texans and Americans and voted ‘no’ on the Democrats’ detrimental cap and trade proposal.

“In the Energy and Commerce Committee, I sat through almost 40 hours of discussion on an almost 1,000-page bill and debated over 100 amendments, including three of my own. I watched as Democrat Committee members blocked all Republican attempts to make this bill better. Republicans tried to offer many amendments to the bill that was on the floor tonight, including five amendments offered by me, and Democrats blocked all but one.

“I believe cap and trade will cause more harm to our nation’s economy and future than any other proposal in the history of Congress. H.R. 2454 will cause the cost of electricity and transportation fuels to increase as domestic energy companies will have pay the government to regulate carbon emissions. Unfortunately, the result will be higher energy costs across the board for American consumers.

“Proponents of this bill claim that it will create jobs in the United States, the reality is, as the cost of emitting carbon increases in America, businesses will simply move production overseas where emissions are unrestricted. Good paying American jobs will go with them.

“HR 2454 will impose the largest tax in our country’s history, force millions of American jobs overseas, and will cripple our efforts to restore our economy for generations to come. We cannot afford to risk our economic future on unproven science and a reliance on non-existent technology.

“I have heard from hundreds of North Texans who share my strong opposition to cap and trade. The number of North Texans who have called me in support of the bill is in single digits.

“While I agree that we need to do more to decrease our dependency on foreign sources of energy and improve energy efficiency, cap and trade is not the answer.”


Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D., is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and three of its subcommittees: Health, Energy & Environment, and Oversight & Investigations. He is also a member of the bipartisan, bicameral Joint Economic Committee. Prior to becoming a member of Congress in 2002, Congressman Burgess practiced medicine in North Texas for over 25 years.