Pelosi's Crusade to Pass Cap and Trade

Last Friday, in a close 219-212 vote, the House approved an enormous energy tax that now heads to the Senate.  Leading the charge against the tax were 168 Republicans, joined by 44 Democrats, the latter of which faced intimidation from House leadership leading up to and during the vote.

As the Politico reports ("Chaos and Arm-Twisting Gives Nancy Pelosi a Major Win"), Speaker Pelosi made it her personal crusade to browbeat and harass enough members to vote in favor of this devastating bill. 

At the White House luau Thursday night, the energy tax supporters even considered branding those who had not made up their minds: 

"As the frustration grew, an aide joked in one meeting that White House staff should give fence-sitters the same colored leis so that the president and his Cabinet secretaries would know who to buttonhole. The desperation was such that others in the room paused for a split second to consider the joke before abandoning it as a logistical impossibility."

During the vote, Democratic opponents of the bill were actually scared of Pelosi:  "Leadership aides say Texas Rep. Ciro Rodriguez promised Pelosi he'd vote yes, but voted no and sprinted from the chamber."

Those on the fence were intimidated:  "When another Californian, Rep. Joe Baca, declared himself undeclared, Pelosi and her whip team surrounded him -- and burst out into applause when he cast one of the decisive 'yes' votes, according to an eyewitness."

Still, others refused to cave even while Pelosi's lieutenants tried tactics of their own: 

"During the vote, Washington Rep. Jay Inslee, one of the taller members of the House, guarded the doors on the floor leading out to the Speaker's Lobby, warning members not to leave the floor in case anyone needed to switch his or her vote. But that didn't stop some Democrats, like Colorado Rep. John Salazar, from voting no early and sneaking out to avoid getting pressured by party leaders."

Of course, the whole process of getting a bill to the House floor was suspect, as leaders rammed the mammoth bill through the House before members could read it.  Henry Waxman even added a 300-page amendment in the cover of darkness early Friday morning.

What's even worse about Pelosi's strong-arming is that Americans are starting continuing to speak out against the bill.  Here are just a few examples from editorial pages across the country:

• An editorial in the Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, MA) calls cap-and-trade "an economy-killer" that has "virtually no chance of achieving its intended goals."  The editorial notes that the energy tax, of course, was "co-written by our own Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey."

• An editorial for one Ohio newspaper stated that Waxman-Markey represents a "crushing blow to our region's chances of economic recovery" and said that the bill "must be defeated in the Senate."

• The Times-Gazette (Shelbyville, TN) editorialized:  "With the economy in its current shape, rushing a law through Congress that would take more money out of everyone's pockets in exchange for potential environmental improvements is the wrong way to go for America."

• The New Hampshire Union-Leader called the energy tax a "gigantic jobs killer."

• On Friday, the Detroit News called on Congress to first "disclose [Waxman-Markey's] full costs to consumers. Families will bear the price of this legislation, and they should be informed of exactly what that price will be."

• The Deseret News (Salt Lake City) called on their representatives to defeat Waxman-Markey on Friday, as its passage "would mean fewer jobs, higher unemployment and a prolonged economic downturn."

• On Thursday, the editors at the Journal Star (Peoria, IL) stated that they "can't support rushing an effort this major that flies so blind. Bring back a more thoroughly vetted, less-risky bill."

(In addition, over 150,000 people have signed the American Solutions petition to stop the energy tax, a number that will only grow as the bill moves to the Senate.)

If this bill is truly "transformational legislation which takes us into the future" as Pelosi says it is, and if it will "promote America's energy security" while creating "millions of clean energy jobs that will drive our economic recovery and long-term growth" as Henry Waxman claims, then shouldn't the bill have passed more easily than by a margin of seven votes? 

Why did Pelosi and Co. need to bully and coerce other Democrats into supporting this legislation if it is, in fact, so vital?  And why did the House leadership have to push through the gargantuan 1,500 page bill so hastily and with virtually no transparency?

It's no wonder that many of those who supported the bill are now in danger of losing their seats in Congress.  And it's also of little surprise that even President Obama's chief political adviser David Axelrod acknowledges that there aren't currently enough votes in the Senate to pass the bill.