This is Getting Ridiculous

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.