Wilson: “Rather than cap, trade, and tax we should be promoting proven alternatives like nuclear energy.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2009

Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02) issued the following statement today in response to the inclusion of a cap and trade proposal for carbon emissions in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget. Such a proposal would raise energy prices for American consumers according to OMB Director Peter Orszag. In a September 2008 testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Orszag, then Director of the Congressional Budget Office, stated that “decreasing those emissions would also impose costs on the economy…much of those costs will be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices for energy and energy intensive goods.”

“Raising taxes during an economic recession will only prolong the downturn or squander economic gains that may be made during a recovery. Raising energy prices on American families is not the correct course of action to either limit carbon emissions or expand the federal government’s coffers for more government spending. Rather than cap, trade, and tax we should be promoting proven alternatives like nuclear energy. In South Carolina, we get nearly 50% of our electricity from nuclear power. This is a technology that can advance our energy infrastructure and contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions.”

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