Isakson Votes to Strip EPA of Power to Regulate Carbon

Legislation Would Halt President's Effort to Impose Backdoor Cap-and-Trade Energy Taxes on America's Families, Businesses

Apr 06, 2011

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today voted to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate carbon. Isakson has long argued that the Obama Administration’s push to regulate carbon through the EPA is a backdoor effort to impose cap and trade regulations that would kill jobs in America’s manufacturing sector and result in higher energy costs for American families.

Isakson is a co-sponsor of the measure by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that was offered as an amendment to the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011, or S.493. It failed by a vote of 50 to 50 with 60 votes required for passage.

“The last thing America’s families and businesses need during this recession is a backdoor regulatory effort by the Administration to implement cap and trade. This amendment ensures that the Administration will not be able to regulate what it could not legislate, while also ensuring that they will not add new burdensome, job-killing energy taxes,” said Isakson. “I will continue to push to repeal onerous regulations and to prevent the Administration from imposing new taxes through more regulations.”

Isakson has previously voted to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and has been a strong opponent of cap and trade and the new energy taxes that would result from overregulation of carbon emissions. He has advocated that it is the responsibility of Congress to address the issue of climate change through legislation rather than unelected bureaucrats at the EPA and other federal agencies doing it by regulation.

Isakson also is a cosponsor of the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, a bill to prevent the EPA from regulating carbon, which was introduced by Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla.