Republicans, reporters, and opponents of climate change regulation are increasingly tapping into a theme that is important policywise, economically, and possibly politically: the fact that a cap-and-trade scheme to curb greenhouse gasses amounts to corporate welfare for financial firms, technology companies, alernative energy companies, and in the case of Waxman-Markey also the big emitters themselves.
A Politico cover story yesterday discussed a Republican strategy of assailing cap-and-trade as corporate welfare for big businesses “guilty of manipulating national climate policy to increase profits on the backs of consumers.” The writers, with obvious skepticism, described this as “a novel way to fight the climate change bill working its way through the House: Tee off on Big Business, and tie it around the neck of the Democrats.”
