Hot Globe - Business Groups Target Climate Bill

Thursday 27 August 2009

by: Jim Snyder

Advocates for manufacturers and small businesses are launching a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against climate change legislation in states represented by senators likely to determine the bill's fate.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), groups that have historically leaned Republican, are targeting the House Waxman-Markey bill as a threat to the economy because it would raise energy costs.

"Our message to senators is that the Waxman-Markey bill is an 'anti-jobs, anti-energy' piece of legislation," said Jay Timmons, NAM executive vice president.

The groups plan to pay for TV, radio and Internet advertising in states like Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia.

It is one of several campaigns this recess intended to advance or block the climate change bill. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), for example, announced earlier this week that it would pay for advertisements criticizing members from congressional districts in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Arizona and Montana for voting against the House climate bill.

The American Petroleum Institute, meanwhile, is funding rallies to build up opposition to the climate legislation. The Natural Resources Defense Council is one of a number of environmental and labor groups working to gin up grassroots support for the measure.

The climate bill sponsored by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Energy and Environment subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) squeaked through the House on a close vote in late June. The bill would cut carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020 and more than 80 percent by 2050.

The bill is expected to serve as the template for the Senate action. Senate committees with jurisdiction have been instructed to have bills ready by the end of September.

The NAM-NFIB effort comes after a study paid for by NAM and the American Council for Capital Formation that reported the Waxman-Markey bill could cost 2.4 million jobs by 2030 in lost economic growth.

Supporters like the LCV contend the bill will create new green jobs and help push the country out of a recession.

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