President Biden expressed a willingness to scale his $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” proposal to half its size — $1.75 trillion — calling it a “framework” to the original.
But it’s still too expensive — $1.75 trillion too expensive.
Nearly a third of the proposal — $555 billion — is dedicated to address “climate crisis” that includes:
- $320 billion for clean energy tax credits,
- $105 billion in investment to address extreme weather across America,
- $110 billion in investments for clean energy and supply chains, and
- $20 billion towards incentivizing government to buy clean energy technologies.
The president described the “climate” portion of the bill in glowing terms.
“It’s a framework that will create millions of jobs, grow the economy, invest in our nation and our people, turn the climate crisis into an opportunity and put us on a path not only to compete but to win the economic competition for the 21st century against China and every other major country in the world,” Biden said. “It’s fiscally responsible. It’s fully paid for.”
But it would actually make us less competitive with countries like China, Russia, and India.
Katie Tubb, senior policy analyst for energy and environmental issues at the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, made that point clear during a Heritage Foundation press briefing Wednesday.
Energy costs affect the cost of all goods and services. Americans are seeing that today. As the cost of gasoline, diesel, and natural gas skyrockets, inflation necessarily increases.
Tubb emphasized that affordable, reliable energy is essential to any thriving economy, and the ability to compete, which, in today’s age means the use of fossil fuels.
“Seventy-nine percent of our total energy needs are met by coal, oil, or natural gas, and 93% of our transportation needs are met by oil,” she observed. “And so any policy that increases the costs of energy harms all Americans — particularly the poor.”
Tubb indicated that one thing “that gets lost in the conversation” is that climate change isn’t our greatest concern. A cost-benefit analysis of cutting carbon emissions proves that such plans are wasteful, and funds expended would be better kept in Americans’ wallets.
She noted that according to Heritage Foundation modeling, “Biden’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50% by 2030 will moderate global temperatures by 0.04 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.”
Meanwhile, counties like China will continue to use their cheapest, most available energy sources, and leave the United States in the dust.
But what’s worse is the price tag. It wasn’t that many years ago when former President Obama proposed a “shovel-ready” stimulus package, that didn’t end up being all that “shovel-ready.”
It fell just shy of $1 trillion. Since then trillion-dollar figures are tossed around like they used to toss around billion-dollar figures, with no apparent understanding of what they mean.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, compared dollars to seconds not long ago, and it went something like this.
There are 60 seconds per minute, 3,600 per hour, 86,400 per day, and assuming 365.25 days per year, 31,557,600 seconds per year.
One billion equals 1,000 million, and one trillion equals 1,000 billion.
Therefore, it would take more than 31 years, 8 months to accumulate one billion seconds, and more than 31,688 years to accumulate one trillion seconds — 55,454 years for 1.75 trillion.
Let’s stop calling it trillions. Let’s call it what it is — thousands of billions.
Tubb observed that “these founding principles of free enterprise, representative government, federalism — the idea of diversity of states within this bigger umbrella of unity — is being crushed by the Biden administration’s climate policies.”
In summation, she said that “any climate policy should improve the lives of Americans — not make it harder.”
Using that criterion, the Biden administration is on the wrong path — just as he has been his entire life.
In addition to the $555 billion for climate, the proposal includes:
- $400 billion for childcare and preschool
- $150 billion for home care
- $200 billion for child tax and earned income tax credits
- $130 billion for the premium tax credit
- $35 billion for a Medicare hearing plan
- $150 billion for housing
- $40 billion for higher education
- $90 billion towards topics like “equity.”
In short, it’s an attempt control American lives from cradle-to-grave.
In his book, “The Conscience of a Conservative,” the late Arizona senator and 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater wrote, “The root evil is that the government is engaged in activities in which it has no legitimate business.”
That was true more than 60 years ago when the book was written, and it’s even more true today.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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