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Congress should not be passing legislation that makes it more expensive for Americans to fill the gas tank and drive to Florida for a vacation. It should not pass legislation that raises airline fuel taxes and ticket taxes. And, it should not be mandating a $1,600-$3,000 energy tax on every family in America – especially now when our economy is struggling. But, that is exactly what Congress is trying to pass this summer. I voted against the higher airline ticket tax, and will be voting against the higher energy taxes (Cap and Trade-Energy Tax Bill, H.R. 2454) as well.

Tourism in Central Florida is down and hurting our community, resulting in increased unemployment. What we need to do to help our economy recover is to make it less expensive, not more expensive for Americans - and international visitors – to come to Central Florida. If Congress approves H.R. 2454, families will see several thousand dollars taken out of family budgets all across this country, making it much more likely that they will be unable to take that much anticipated vacation to our theme parks, hotels and local businesses.

We need to get our national economy back on track so that Americans have more discretionary income in order to bring their family to central Florida and to our beaches for a much needed family vacation. We need to see businesses all across this country prosper so that they can rehire employees, increase their pay, and plan corporate conventions here in Florida.

Creating jobs and getting our economy back on track is a priority for me. The Cap and Trade Energy Tax bill does just the opposite. I recently had the opportunity to host an educational forum on this bill. We brought in an expert from the Competitive Enterprise Institute to give a two-hour long discussion of what this 900-page bill is all about. I would encourage you to visit www.youtube.com/congressmanposey and view a portion of the briefing.

Don’t be fooled. The Cap and Trade-Energy Tax Bill is not about the global warming as its advocates claim. It’s about raising revenue – i.e. raising your taxes to pay for bigger government. A prominent U.S. Senator was recently quoted in the Washington Post as calling Cap and Trade “the most significant revenue-generating proposal of our time.” Another senior Congressional Democrat said during an Energy and Commerce Committee Hearing on the bill that “Nobody, nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax and it’s a great big one.”

Before voting on this bill, Congress should spend a little more time meeting with their constituents rather than the lobbyists who have carved out tens of billions of dollars in special earmarks and giveaways in the Cap and Trade bill – all at your expense I would add. Please visit my Web site at www.posey.house.gov and find out more about this bill and take my constituent survey on this issue and several other issues that are before the Congress.

Published June 23, 2009 in the Osceola News Gazette