Protecting Americans by Preventing Overregulation

On June 2nd, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a regulation establishing CO2 emission guidelines, better known as cap-and-trade. This is such a bad policy President Obama could even get it passed when the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi were in charge of the house. Last week, along with many other members of Congress, I sent a letter to the EPA explaining my concerns with their plan, whose concept has already been rejected by Congress.

I told the EPA the negative effects on our country their proposal would have. The rules would reduce jobs, hurt the American economy, and increase energy costs substantially for American families.

Overregulating the energy industry will kill American jobs, with estimates as high as 178,000 jobs a year for 15 years. This is a major concern in Coastal Texas where we rely on multiple forms of energy production to keep people working.

By reducing America’s ability to produce energy the proposed EPA rules prevents the country from becoming energy independent and puts a strain on our economy. Energy independence is crucial to jobs, the economy and our national security.

This proposed regulation is estimated to reduce the average family’s income by $1,200 a year.

As a government watchdog, I am fighting government abuse and overregulation like these over-reaching proposed EPA cap and trade CO2 rules.