Sen. Richard Burr’s latest attempt to pander to the left went was defeated yesterday. The amendment to the Highway bill in the Senate was another government subsidy for special interests at the expense of the people. In this case, companies who are supporting natural gas powered cars would have received money to develop both the vehicles and the supporting infrastructure.
Here is Sen. Burr’s logic for sponsoring this amendment:
“This gives it a five-hour energy drink. This is essential if you want natural gas prices to stay down.”
Sen. Burr: this energy drink is hard to swallow when the taxpayers are required to fund another redistribution to the elite. How does raising taxes on a product (natural gas) keep gas prices down?
Sen. Burr’s FDA Food Safety Modernization Act increased the amount of regulation and the subsequent cost of food. Here is a synopsis of this legislation from Sen. Coburn:
Burdensome New Regulations
There are 225 pages of new regulations, many of which are problematic. While some regulations are potentially onerous, but perhaps reasonable – such as requiring every facility to have a scientifically-based, but very flexible, food safety plan—others give FDA sweeping authority with potentially significant consequences.
While it is hard to pull out just 1 or 2 regulations in the bill that make the entire thing unpalatable, on the whole this bill represents a weighty new regulatory structure on the food industry that will be particularly difficult for small producers and farms to comply with (with little evidence it will make food safer). The following regulations are perhaps the most troubling:
• Performance standards. The bill gives the Secretary the authority to “issue contaminant-specific and science-based guidance documents, action levels, or regulations.” The way the bill is written the authority is extremely broad and could be used by FDA to issue very specific and onerous regulations on food facilities, without even the normal rule-making and guidance process FDA food regulations normally go through.
• Traceability. FDA is required to establish a “product tracing system within the FDA” based and develop additional recordkeeping requirements for foods determined to be “high risk.” The House legislation includes “full pedigree” traceback which puts FDA in charge of tracing the entire supply chain. The final bill requires the FDA to do this for high-risk foods, and while there are some limitations on FDA, anything further than the “one-up-one-back” requirement in the bioterrorism law will be very onerous on industry.
• Standards for produce safety. For produce, this bill gives FDA the authority to create commodity-specific safety standards for produce. Instead of trusting industry and the free-market, this provision implies that complying with government standards is the best way to keep consumers safe. A lot of the produce industry lobbied for these standards to provide “consumer confidence” after the jalapeno and tomato scare, but federal regulations could particularly adversely impact small providers.
Sen. Burr voted for the NDAA: the most egregious attack on American freedom this nation has ever witnessed. North Carolina’s senior senator has now successfully managed to attack our food supply and our freedom. Although his latest attempt for energy has failed, he has three strikes which the people will not forgot.
David DeGerolamo
Highway bill amendment defeated that would have sent billions to Soros, Pickens, Douglas companies
The Senate Tuesday killed legislation to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to encourage companies to use natural-gas powered vehicles. The legislation also would have benefited wealthy backers of the Democratic measure, including George Soros, T. Boone Pickens, and Kevin G. Douglas.
The amendment to the highway bill required 60 votes to pass but was defeated 51 yeas to 47 nays.
First reported by HUMAN EVENTS, the measure sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Sen. Richard Burr (R- N.C.) would distribute billions in subsidies to these key entities and others for the purchase of natural gas vehicles and to build fueling stations. It would be funded through a new tax on consumers that charged 2.5 cents per gallon of natural gas beginning in 2014, with another increase to 12.5 cents in 2021.
“Gas prices are skyrocketing and meanwhile natural gas is $1.50 cheaper than gas, and we have 100-plus years of supply we can draw from,” Menendez said. “The only thing in our way is so few natural gas vehicles and gas stations on the road.” Menendez and Burr said their measure would give the natural gas market a needed jump-start by the federal government. “This gives it a five-hour energy drink,” Burr said. “This is essential if you want natural gas prices to stay down.”
Sickening. Cant wait to get rid of all these RINO’s. I get a big kick out of the government passing a “food Safety plan” to protect us and yet they buy millions of pounds of pink slime to put in our childrens school cafeteria food which by the way the Obama administration is supplying to more and more children at the cost of the taxpayers. The pink slime is anything but healthy.
I am confused as to why this was a bad bill. Isn’t this bill going to promote the Natural Gas industry and help with pushing forward legislation like the “pipeline”. It goes against what Obamais trying to feed us with wind, battery, and solar power. So am I missing the point? At least we are paying for an industry that has been proven since the 1980’s! Right?
The United States is a republic based on a Capitalistic, free market economy. Supposedly. Our government can be better described as crony Capitalism that has been converted to Socialism. In a free market economy, a good idea does not need to be funded by the government. One person or several people start a company to provide a service or supply a product to make a profit.
This amendment would tax people who are already using propane to “jump start” an industry whose infrastructure is already in place. The taxes would then go to the government which would dispense it to help this sector of the economy. Like the stimulus, healthcare and mortgage companies, the government takes the money and little to no results are seen. Since the government controls the auto industry, why doesn’t GM or Chrysler build these cars? As an example, each Chevy Volt cost over $240,000 to build but each one sold for $32,000 after government subsidies. That is when they are being built.
The bottom line example: if you build it, the people will come if the product is good. Apple is now worth more than the entire US retail sector of the market. Should we pay for this industry that has been proven right since the 1980’s? And for the last question, propane conversion kits are available now for cars and propane cars are available. You can buy one or the other but be forewarned, the price of propane along with its taxes is not cheap as all homeowners who use it now know: the price of propane has tripled in the past five years.
Government and taxes are never the solution in a free market economy.