Monday, November 9, 2009

Blog 10

Now That Health Cares Moving…

With the passing of the House of Representatives version of the expansive health care overhaul bill, the focus of many members of Congress will now turn to President Obama’s next item of agenda, energy bills.  This piece of legislation has already passed through the House and is now aimed for the Senate. As I blogged about in an earlier rant, the “cap and trade” emissions policy allows all businesses are given a cap on their greenhouse gas emissions.   Then can then trade their allotted emission consumption with other companies if they reduce their own. 

With the Copenhagen climate change summit fast approaching, Obama still has relatively little to show for his commitment to reducing greenhouse gases.  As John Kerry of Massachusetts points out, the cap and trade system, by cutting out inefficiencies in energy production, transportation, and consumption will actually be more cost effective for the consumer.  That fact that Mr. Kerry is working on this piece of legislation with Lindsey Graham, a republican, and Joseph Lieberman, an independent, point to the possibility of a bipartisan bill.

While Mr. Obama ventures to China in a few days, specifically to reconnoiter the two countries’ energy consumptions levels, he will not be proposing a tangible climate change policy, but will instead be focusing on another important aspect controlling carbon emissions, alternative energy.  Obama plans to talk about electric cars.  In additions to alternative energy abroad, Obama recently announces a $3.4 billion investment in modernizing the nation’s power grid, an effective way of saving money and developing alternative energy solutions.

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