OPINION/COMMENTARY

McCain-Lieberman Act: Still Bad for Small Business

With the reintroduction of the Climate Stewardship Act, co-sponsored by U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) reiterated its strong opposition to this measure. SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan noted: “This bill effectively is a domestic version of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. It would ration energy usage by Americans by imposing reductions and caps on carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions. Energy costs would rise, and jobs would be lost.” SBE Council noted that a study conducted by Charles River Associates and released last year by United for Jobs and the American Council for Capital Formation found that implementation of the Climate Stewardship Act would reduce annual household purchasing power by between $600 and $1,300 in 2010, rising to between $1,000 and $2,300 in 2020. As many as 610,000 jobs could be destroyed in 2020 as well....