Waxman to Gingrich: "The problem with these numbers is they're simply not true."

by Emily Gertz · 2009-04-24 20:19:00 UTC
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Another moment from today's House hearings on energy and climate legislation, as Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) smacks down one-time GOP influencer Newt Gingrich (speaker of the House from 1995-1999) for essentially reading lies into the record about the costs of capping carbon:

Gingrich: I'd like to put in the record a recent article from the Weekly Standard called Fuzzy Math, which is actually John McCormick's conversation with the MIT professor. And in terms of citations, I would cite a $10,800 cost per family of four by 2020, according to a Laffler study; $2700 for a family of four according to Wharton Econometrics; and $750 per year for the poorest quintile according to the Center for Budget Policy Priorities, as some of my sources.

Waxman: As I look at your basic, core argument -- it's going to cost too much, and in fact you said it's going to be "a glorified $1-2 trillion new energy tax that will cost households over $3000 a year" -- is that right? Is that your position?

Gingrich: Um, well, those are the numbers I've seen.

Waxman: Well, those are the numbers that have been cited. And the problem with these numbers is they're simply not true. Republican members have cited this before in other hearings, and they say that this is supported by an MIT study.

But the author of this study, Dr. John Riley, said that [this] is a gross exaggeration, that the study is two years old, it uses outdated data, it examines a different piece of legislation.

I'd like to enter into the record, Mr. Chairman, two letters that Dr. Riley sent to Minority Leader Boehner, explaining that Republicans are mischaracterizing his work.

Just yesterday, Dr. Riley confirmed that "the Republican approach to estimating the cost of cap-and-trade is just wrong."

Chair: The objection will be included in the record.

Waxman: EPA analyzed the costs of the bill that Mr. Markey and I have proposed, and this analysis says the bill will cost the average family less than $0.40 per day.

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Per The Caucus blog at The New York Times, "Mr. Gingrich took fire from a number of Democrats on the panel, including Mr. Waxman, the chairman, who said that his complaints about excessive government cost rang hollow when he was advocating big new public investments in so-called clean coal technology and nuclear power plants.

"Democrats also projected onto large screens in the hearing room some of Mr. Gingrich’s earlier statements favoring a cap-and-trade system similar to the one at the heart the Democratic bill."

(Another hat tip to TPM.)

Emily Gertz
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