Word: capping
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America's Climate Security Act, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman and John Warner, would create a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 65% below 1990 levels by 2050. It has made it out of subcommittee and has a good chance of reaching the Senate floor. Its strength can be measured by what the candidates are saying about it--and by what they're not saying...
...cap-and-trade system envisioned by Lieberman-Warner, in which government sets emissions limits and auctions or gives away pollution allowances that can then be bought and sold, would raise billions for energy investment by imposing billions in new costs on polluters. Who pays, how much is paid and who gets to spend those billions will be one of the great political battles of this generation. Naturally, some business interests want to delay the day of reckoning, and they're making common cause with some green groups that don't think it's possible to get a strong enough bill...
...issue: Obama's proposal to increase the taxes that wealthier Americans pay into the system. Currently, workers are taxed on only the first $97,500 of what they earn, a limit that will rise to $102,000 next year. Getting rid of the income cap, he says, would be enough to "virtually eliminate" the funding shortfall and guarantee the solvency of the system without cutting benefits. John Edwards would also increase the taxes but only on income over $200,000. And Clinton--well, she refuses to be pinned down on what, if anything, she would do with Social Security. Instead...
...European Commission on Tuesday addressed the issue head-on when it proposed reforms to the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the skein of price supports, export subsidies, and environmental payments that gobbles up 44% of the E.U.'s $187 billion annual budget...
...Dubbed a "health check" for the CAP, the policy review suggests revamping the Union's single biggest policy domain to better address modern challenges like climate change, the boom in biofuels, water management and protecting biodiversity. The Commission floats once heretical ideas such as phasing out milk quotas, scrapping rules on keeping land fallow and guaranteeing minimum cereal prices...