John Callahan still silent on cap and trade – a national energy tax

By DENT FOR CONGRESS

Saturday marked a milestone for John Callahan – the first anniversary of the longest-standing issue he’s been ducking – cap and trade. Even though Christmas is six months out, Charlie Dent’s campaign thinks Callahan deserves the “lump of coal” award for refusing to discuss America’s energy policy.

On June 26, 2009, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a “cap and trade” bill that is in fact a job-killing national energy tax. Charlie Dent continues to stand firmly against this legislation because the entire idea of the bill is to increase Americans’ energy costs. Rather than bringing down the cost of alternative and renewable energy, cap and trade would raise the price of traditional energy sources. Pennsylvania and other industrial states would be the hardest hit.

In fact, three of Pennsylvania’s five Public Utilities Commissioners wrote the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation saying they expect skyrocketing energy costs and they also predict Pennsylvania would lose 66,000 jobs if the bill were enacted. (letter attached)

The people of the Fifteenth District also made their voices known. In the aftermath of the vote, Congressman Charlie Dent listened to constituents who packed his town halls, expressing outrage at the House of Representatives for passing it. Yet in all this time, like so many other issues, Callahan has yet to offer any views on “cap and trade”.

The Senate is now planning an energy bill that will likely include a cap and trade provision; the President plans to meet with key Senators to discuss this legislation tomorrow. Callahan has wasted everyone’s time in recent weeks. Now it’s time for Callahan to say where he stands on the national energy tax called cap and trade, an issue that actually concerns the people of the Fifteenth District.

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