# This is Getting Ridiculous

*Published:* 2009-06-26
*Author:* Sam Parry

### Claim:

> “This will impose a Pelosi global warming tax… almost $3000 per family”
> 
> — Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), 6/26/09
> 
> “\[The American Clean Energy and Security Act is a\] Transfer of wealth bill .. \[Americans will see\] $1300 and $3100 in bills .. The taxpayer is the big loser”
> 
> — Rep. Marcia Blackburn (R-TN), 6/26/09

### Truth:

> OH FOR PETE’S SAKE.
> 
> How many times do we have to correct this falsehood? The claim that ACES will cost families “$3,100” was first made in a March press release from the National Republican Congressional Committee.
> 
> The NRCC said its number was based on an MIT analysis of cap and trade legislation. But John Reilly, the author of the MIT study, wrote a letter to the NRCC telling them their math was incorrect.
> 
> Reilly’s comments on the $3100 claim: “It’s just wrong. It’s wrong in so many ways it’s hard to begin.” And yet, people keep using it.
> 
> Here are the accurate figures: an EPA analysis puts the cost of a carbon cap on at $88-$140 per household per year over the life of the program – or about a dime a day per person. The Congressional Budget Office did a separate analysis and got similar results. Both studies show we could get all the benefits of a carbon cap for less than the cost of a postage stamp per day per family.