Floor Statement

 

The Honorable Frank D. Lucas

Ranking Member, House Committee on Agriculture

 

RE: H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009

 

June 10, 2009

The Waxman-Markey bill is one of the most monumental bills this Congress will consider. It has the potential to permanently damage the standard of living for every man, woman, and child for decades to come.

Yet, Speaker Pelosi and the administration want to force this bill through Congress. This bill will tax you. It creates a massive national energy tax that will be devastating to those who live and work in rural America. It promises higher energy costs, lost jobs, and higher food prices. This bill will affect all of us. If you like being warm in the winter, cool in the summer, if you own a farm or a small business, if you like to eat, if you like to go anywhere, this bill will affect you.

Agriculture is squarely in the crosshairs of this bill because it is energy intensive. That’s why more than 40 agriculture groups including the American Farm Bureau have expressed opposition to it. No large farm group has endorsed it. A thousand-page bill of this magnitude deserves thoughtful consideration and debate. Instead, Speaker Pelosi is rushing it through Congress to the detriment of all of us.

 

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