If anyone wants to halt the climate change bill that is nearing a vote tomorrow, the Washington Times has made it very easy for them. In a time of domestic bailouts, nationalizing the car industry, and growing national debt, Congress is now going to handout money to foreigners to get them to not chop down trees. This could make for some fun speeches on the House floor.
If a tree falls in Brazil, it will, in fact, be heard in the U.S. - at least if a little-noticed provision in the pending climate-change bill in Congress becomes law.
As part of the far-reaching climate bill, the House is set to vote Friday on a plan to pay companies billions of dollars not to chop down trees around the world, as a way to reduce global warming.
The provision, called “offsets,” has been attacked by both environmentalists and business groups as ineffective and poorly designed. Critics contend it would send scarce federal dollars overseas to plant trees when subsidies are needed at home, while the purported ecological benefits would be difficult to quantify.