While President Obama used his weekly address to push the Senate to act on the climate change bill, it is unclear whether he is really a fan of the legislation. Speaking to a group of reporters in the Oval Office, Obama raised concerns with trade penalties and questioned whether the bill would actually curb carbon emissions as much as sponsors claim.
A contentious provision in Waxman-Markey is the penalties put on countries without adequate pollution controls. If this were not in the bill, it is unlikely Rust Belt Democrats would have voted in favor.
“At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we’ve seen a significant drop in global trade,” Mr. Obama said, “I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there.”
He said that certain energy-intensive American industries, such as steel, aluminum, paper and glass, had legitimate concerns about low-cost competitors in developing nations. But he warned that trade sanctions that are based on the extent to which other countries curb carbon dioxide emissions might be illegal and counterproductive.
“I think there may be other ways of doing it than with a tariff approach,” he said.
Additionally, Obama, unhappy with the countless weaknesses in the bill, raised the possibility of boosting the National Energy Tax. The passage of Waxman-Markey will thus build momentum for squeezing even more money out of the American taxpayer.
[Obama] acknowledged that the initial targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions set by the legislation, which narrowly cleared the House on Friday night, were quite modest and that they would likely not satisfy many other governments or environmental campaigners. He said he hoped he would be able to build upon the early targets to fashion a more robust program in the future.
Many Democrats should be worried about how this will affect them in the years to come. Passing Waxman-Markey is one thing, but with Obama looking to eliminate the trade provisions and raise energy taxes again, constituents are not going to be happy.