Climate Change Bill Set for Vote in the House

[Frodo]

The legislation was also an unmistakable personal priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a centerpiece of the domestic agenda for Obama, whose approval ratings remain around 60 percent. An ABC/Washington Post survey this week showed that a 56 percent majority of Americans supported action to reduce carbon emissions, even if it raised energy bills $10 a month, about as much as the Environmental Protection Agency this week estimated the bill would cost.
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$10 more a month? Whoopde doo! From the way people on here are acting they make it sound like it'll be $500 more a month!

Even if our energy bills do rise more than $10 a month, it would work to everyone's benefit if we all learned how to use less energy. 

For instance, is it really necessary to keep your thermostat at 70 in the summer, and around the same during the winter?  Is it really that irksome just to get yourself a fan and give your AC a break?  What about wearing a sweater in the house instead of walking around in shorts and T-shirts during the winter?  And how troublesome is it to keep lights off throughout the house in rooms no one is in?  How about turning your computer off at the end of the day?   

It's not that hard, gentlemen...  I see no need for all this whining and handwringing. 

[Landslide Lyndon]

The legislation was also an unmistakable personal priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a centerpiece of the domestic agenda for Obama, whose approval ratings remain around 60 percent. An ABC/Washington Post survey this week showed that a 56 percent majority of Americans supported action to reduce carbon emissions, even if it raised energy bills $10 a month, about as much as the Environmental Protection Agency this week estimated the bill would cost.
\

$10 more a month? Whoopde doo! From the way people on here are acting they make it sound like it'll be $500 more a month!

Even if our energy bills do rise more than $10 a month, it would work to everyone's benefit if we all learned how to use less energy. 

For instance, is it really necessary to keep your thermostat at 70 in the summer, and around the same during the winter?  Is it really that irksome just to get yourself a fan and give your AC a break?  What about wearing a sweater in the house instead of walking around in shorts and T-shirts during the winter?  And how troublesome is it to keep lights off throughout the house in rooms no one is in?  How about turning your computer off at the end of the day?   

It's not that hard, gentlemen...  I see no need for all this whining and handwringing. 

Good luck selling that to the Republicans and their know-nothing voters.
Just remember what happened last year when Obama suggested that checking your tires and tuning up your car would help in gas conservation.

[Mechaman]

The legislation was also an unmistakable personal priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a centerpiece of the domestic agenda for Obama, whose approval ratings remain around 60 percent. An ABC/Washington Post survey this week showed that a 56 percent majority of Americans supported action to reduce carbon emissions, even if it raised energy bills $10 a month, about as much as the Environmental Protection Agency this week estimated the bill would cost.
\

$10 more a month? Whoopde doo! From the way people on here are acting they make it sound like it'll be $500 more a month!

Even if our energy bills do rise more than $10 a month, it would work to everyone's benefit if we all learned how to use less energy. 

For instance, is it really necessary to keep your thermostat at 70 in the summer, and around the same during the winter?  Is it really that irksome just to get yourself a fan and give your AC a break?  What about wearing a sweater in the house instead of walking around in shorts and T-shirts during the winter?  And how troublesome is it to keep lights off throughout the house in rooms no one is in?  How about turning your computer off at the end of the day?   

It's not that hard, gentlemen...  I see no need for all this whining and handwringing. 

Hey I agree with your synopsis, but we still shouldn't get carried away with going green. Anything in extremity is not good.

The average temperature in my house during the summer is usually 76 degrees (damned Texan parents who like everything hot, seriously: What the hell?), which is why I have an industrial power fan in my room. However, during winter they keep it down to 68 degrees though whenever I'm at the house by myself I usually either turn it down to 60 or shut off the climate controls entirely (if it's above freezing). Personally I prefer colder weather because I like wearing sweaters/long sleeve shirts more than I do short sleeve. We have a rule to turn off the lights whenever no one is in a room (funny thing is though my parents insist on getting incandescent light bulbs despite being really conservative when it comes to cutting the energy bill). I usually shut down my overrated sh**tty Apple laptop down whenever I go to sleep, not sure about everyone else though.

It's pretty sad that we need to pass a bill to get people to be more thrifty with the energy they use.

[??????????]

For instance, is it really necessary to keep your thermostat at 70 in the summer, and around the same during the winter?  Is it really that irksome just to get yourself a fan and give your AC a break?  What about wearing a sweater in the house instead of walking around in shorts and T-shirts during the winter?  And how troublesome is it to keep lights off throughout the house in rooms no one is in?  How about turning your computer off at the end of the day?   

Is it really any of your or the states business what I do in my own home? But that's ok, if the govt tries to force this on us I'll simply violate the "codes" and do as I please.

[Franzl]

For instance, is it really necessary to keep your thermostat at 70 in the summer, and around the same during the winter?  Is it really that irksome just to get yourself a fan and give your AC a break?  What about wearing a sweater in the house instead of walking around in shorts and T-shirts during the winter?  And how troublesome is it to keep lights off throughout the house in rooms no one is in?  How about turning your computer off at the end of the day?   

Is it really any of your or the states business what I do in my own home? But that's ok, if the govt tries to force this on us I'll simply violate the "codes" and do as I please.

You're absolutely right...you're free to use as much energy as you want and can. Just please don't complain about higher energy costs then if you don't care to reduce your usage at all.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The legislation was also an unmistakable personal priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a centerpiece of the domestic agenda for Obama, whose approval ratings remain around 60 percent. An ABC/Washington Post survey this week showed that a 56 percent majority of Americans supported action to reduce carbon emissions, even if it raised energy bills $10 a month, about as much as the Environmental Protection Agency this week estimated the bill would cost.
\

$10 more a month? Whoopde doo! From the way people on here are acting they make it sound like it'll be $500 more a month!

Even if our energy bills do rise more than $10 a month, it would work to everyone's benefit if we all learned how to use less energy. 

For instance, is it really necessary to keep your thermostat at 70 in the summer, and around the same during the winter?  Is it really that irksome just to get yourself a fan and give your AC a break?  What about wearing a sweater in the house instead of walking around in shorts and T-shirts during the winter?  And how troublesome is it to keep lights off throughout the house in rooms no one is in?  How about turning your computer off at the end of the day?   

It's not that hard, gentlemen...  I see no need for all this whining and handwringing. 

There is something you don't understand. You can cut energy consumption and still have the power bill go up. It may sound impossible but it happens. For instance in October 2007 our bill was 187, the next month it was 669. No change in energy consumption, if anything our consumption went down to try to preserve the bill near $200, but it still went up. Now the ten dollars on top of that 187 isn't the problem, the problem is adding that on top of the 600's. Thankfully we no longer live in that town, however my dad has lost his job since then, so the maximum bill we can handle now is 300 a month, and we still have peaks in the bill at about $400 in certain months and they are not necessarily determined by the season. What happens is the rate per killowatt hour fluctuates, in the towns its much worse cause they jack up to pay for other things in the town. They also raise the rates in the Winter regardless of how much you consume. Thats what gets me about this Climate bill.  These wild fluctuations scare the hell out of me as it is, so I think it should be pretty understandable why I am opposed to any increases in the cost of electricity.

Finally as Sam Spade alluded too, this has other effects. It increases costs on struggling small businesses, it saps money that could otherwise boost demand for goods such as homes, cars. It has a severe destimulating effect on the economy and anybody should plainly see that. Now is not the time. And there is no delayed implementation. As soon as this passes electric companies are going to jack up there rates in anticipation of this. The effect will be immediate and dire not only for me but for the everyone is in unemployed or is in poverty. There will be no hiding from this. There is no blaming Bush if this backfires my friends, this is the Dems bill and Obama's plan, if it backfires like I think it will, if the economy takes another leg downward Obama has to explain to the voters why he decided to essesentially tax the poor and the middle class to please the Enviromental special interests. This is like George Bush raising income taxes on the poor to please his special interest, oil and business, and who would have been to first to complain about that, the same ones that are essentially doing the same thing again and again, all thats changed are the names and the labels.

[Mechaman]

The legislation was also an unmistakable personal priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a centerpiece of the domestic agenda for Obama, whose approval ratings remain around 60 percent. An ABC/Washington Post survey this week showed that a 56 percent majority of Americans supported action to reduce carbon emissions, even if it raised energy bills $10 a month, about as much as the Environmental Protection Agency this week estimated the bill would cost.
\

$10 more a month? Whoopde doo! From the way people on here are acting they make it sound like it'll be $500 more a month!

Even if our energy bills do rise more than $10 a month, it would work to everyone's benefit if we all learned how to use less energy. 

For instance, is it really necessary to keep your thermostat at 70 in the summer, and around the same during the winter?  Is it really that irksome just to get yourself a fan and give your AC a break?  What about wearing a sweater in the house instead of walking around in shorts and T-shirts during the winter?  And how troublesome is it to keep lights off throughout the house in rooms no one is in?  How about turning your computer off at the end of the day?   

It's not that hard, gentlemen...  I see no need for all this whining and handwringing. 

There is something you don't understand. You can cut energy consumption and still have the power bill go up. It may sound impossible but it happens. For instance in October 2007 our bill was 187, the next month it was 669. No change in energy consumption, if anything our consumption went down to try to preserve the bill near $200, but it still went up. Now the ten dollars on top of that 187 isn't the problem, the problem is adding that on top of the 600's. Thankfully we no longer live in that town, however my dad has lost his job since then, so the maximum bill we can handle now is 300 a month, and we still have peaks in the bill at about $400 in certain months and they are not necessarily determined by the season. What happens is the rate per killowatt hour fluctuates, in the towns its much worse cause they jack up to pay for other things in the town. They also raise the rates in the Winter regardless of how much you consume. Thats what gets me about this Climate bill.  These wild fluctuations scare the hell out of me as it is, so I think it should be pretty understandable why I am opposed to any increases in the cost of electricity.

Finally as Sam Spade alluded too, this has other effects. It increases costs on struggling small businesses, it saps money that could otherwise boost demand for goods such as homes, cars. It has a severe destimulating effect on the economy and anybody should plainly see that. Now is not the time. And there is no delayed implementation. As soon as this passes electric companies are going to jack up there rates in anticipation of this. The effect will be immediate and dire not only for me but for the everyone is in unemployed or is in poverty. There will be no hiding from this. There is no blaming Bush if this backfires my friends, this is the Dems bill and Obama's plan, if it backfires like I think it will, if the economy takes another leg downward Obama has to explain to the voters why he decided to essesentially tax the poor and the middle class to please the Enviromental special interests. This is like George Bush raising income taxes on the poor to please his special interest, oil and business, and who would have been to first to complain about that, the same ones that are essentially doing the same thing again and again, all thats changed are the names and the labels.

Ahh right.

Honestly I don't like the idea of making the poor and middle class suffer during an economic downturn just to save a few trees.
If this thing passes and and it ends up being an epic failure that pretty much screws over the economy, 2012, hell maybe even 2010 isn't going to be a good year to be a Democrat.