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Grassley says global warming bill will ship U.S. jobs overseas

A Republican senator fears cap and trade legislation designed to reverse so-called "man-made" global warming would not only lead to higher energy prices but also to the further outsourcing of American jobs.



A bipartisan climate change bill sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and John Warner (R-Virginia) [S.2191] would cap greenhouse gas emissions at 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and set up a system for industries to trade carbon credits to meet the goals. The legislation is currently being worked on in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-California) hopes to hold a full committee vote on December 6.

Lieberman has conceded the bill "will cost hundreds of billions of dollars," but Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) warns the legislation would have a devastating effect on the U.S. economy. "It has an effect if the United States did [it] itself. I wouldn't quantify it so much in dollars, but I don't dispute that large sum of money," he says. "What I would want to look at economically is that if China is not involved with the same regulations we are involved with, it would lead to the exportation of all of our manufacturing jobs."

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), a prominent global warming skeptic who has railed against the bill, says economic cap and trade policies "will create huge economic harm for American families and the poor residents of the developing world who may see development hindered by unfounded climate fears." A new report shows that China, India, and South Africa -- not the U.S. -- are home to the five largest carbon dioxide-emitting utility companies in the world.