The mythical vampire could be stabbed repeatedly but always would rise from the dead.
The modern-day iteration of the vampire is the carbon tax, an idea that gets defeated repeatedly, yet some members of Congress continue trying to bring it back to life. Sadly, among those attempting the latest resurrection is one of my state’s senators, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is sponsoring two pieces of legislation that would create a carbon offset scheme and a tax increase at the same time.
The idea of a carbon tax is predicated on two falsehoods. The first is that carbon is a pollutant that must be restricted, and the second is that the government needs to tax the American people more. Both ideas are complete falsehoods. Carbon is not a pollutant but a foundation of life on Earth, and the American people do not need a massive tax increase imposed on them. We are taxed enough already.
Americans are constantly bombarded with the argument that carbon is “poisoning the atmosphere.” We are lectured by most Fortune 500 companies in ads and through their corporate philanthropy on the need to reduce “our carbon footprint,” and many of them pledge to become “carbon neutral.”
Our media are mainly funded directly by billionaires who believe the world will end if we don’t enact radical programs to radically transform our economy, restrict economic growth and carbon production while publishing bogus claims about a “climate emergency.”
Politicians make heroes out of ignorant radicals like Greta Thunberg while ignoring the pleas of climate scientists and Nobel Prize winners who discount these distorted claims. This well-funded campaign, according to Nobel Prize-winning scientist John F. Clauser, is “massive shock-journalistic pseudoscience.” He firmly rejects that “there is a climate crisis” and adds that “The world we live in today is filled with misinformation. It is up to each of you to serve as judges, distinguishing truth from falsehood based on accurate observations of phenomena.” Well said!
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Implementing a carbon tax would be the most regressive tax ever imposed on the American people. As outlined in a study by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Office, a carbon tax would increase the costs of electricity, heating, and transportation and hurt those on the lower end of the income scale while providing negligible effects on the Earth’s climate. At its core, a carbon tax is a massive tax on the American people covered in green rhetorical camouflage.
Many elected officials recognize the dangers of such a policy. One of them used to be Sen. Cassidy.
As recently as October 2023, he rightfully condemned a carbon tax in a resolution he submitted to the Senate. “Increasing the cost of energy in the U.S. with a carbon tax merely incentivizes industry and those jobs to move to Asia where dirtier fuel is used without any environmental safeguards. This increases global emissions and weakens our economy,” he said. Cassidy continued, “We should be for Americans and the environment, not an ideological devotion to a domestic carbon tax.”
Unfortunately, Cassidy’s cogent views have been replaced by confused logic. He recently cosponsored legislation with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) to create a backdoor carbon tax on imports.
These senators introduced S. 1863, often referred to as the PROVE IT Act, which would require the Department of Energy to report on the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions of certain products produced in the United States and certain foreign countries. They also introduced S. 3198, the Foreign Pollution Fee Act of 2023, that would impose a tax on certain products imported into the United States based on the pollution intensity associated with the production of such products.
Mr. Cramer and Mr. Coons have been long-time supporters of a carbon tax, so their environmental activism is no surprise here. But Sen. Cassidy’s involvement in these efforts has been shocking, disheartening, and downright disappointing.
A coalition of 40 free market, environmental groups, and leaders recently issued a public letter denouncing the legislation. “It is shocking that legislators would contemplate advancing policy that would increase taxes, drive up prices for American families, harm workers and those on fixed incomes, and punish energy use. Yet this is precisely what a carbon tariff does,” they wrote.
The groups identify how these bills “would create a detailed carbon-emissions measuring system for domestic and foreign goods, putting into place exactly what is needed to implement a carbon tariff and a domestic carbon tax.”
Was Sen. Cassidy misled into supporting a bill that would create an infrastructure for the ultimate adoption of a carbon tax on the American people? Did his staff make a mistake? Or did he decide to abandon the people of Louisiana, especially those who work in the oil and gas sector, which employs and supports nearly 350,000 jobs in the Pelican State? Inquiring minds want to know.
In any event, Republicans in Congress need to fight these climate alarmist bills with every fiber of their being. They represent the biggest GOP-induced threat to the energy industry in the last few decades. For the sake of our state’s economy and workforce, they must be defeated.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from Noon until 1 p.m. CT nationally on Real America's Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-11 a.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com.
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