Cap and Trade from the Small Business Perspective.....the McArthur Saga Continues

St. Louisans are proud of our new hometown hero---no, not Albert Pujols---Dave McArthur. Yesterday evening Dave made his national television debut on Glenn Beck's show on Fox News, but immediately afterward, he was also interviewed on Fox Business Channel's Nightly Scoreboard with David Asman. The common man did himself proud and he has become the next Mr. Smith to take on Washington.




Dave McArthur is now the person around whom a movement is beginning to coalesce. He has become a champion of small business against the Cap and Trade issue that could sound the death knell for many small businesses, particularly in the Midwest where 85% of our energy is coal based and as a result we will be paying dearly for our energy under Cap and Trade. Midwestern business will be hit hard, but so will all of the families of all economic standings every time they turn on a light, heat or cool their homes or go to the grocery store.

Cap and Trade has narrowly passed the House of Representatives and our voting block can be turned against those representatives who voted for it. 1/3 of the Senate and all of the representatives will be up for election in 2010. Every representative is potentially vulnerable in 2010 and this is the time to do some major house cleaning.

If it has been a while since you thought about the legislative process, think about this...The House of Representatives has a bill introduced. It is sent to committee for consideration, debate, and amendment. When it is in its final form, it is voted on by the committee and if passed, it moves to the floor where it is voted upon. This is how Cap and Trade rapidly moved through the House and was narrowly passed. Now Cap and Trade must go to the Senate for consideration. In the Senate, a similar process occurs and the bill goes to committee where it is again debated, marked up and it may be changed. When it is voted out of committee, it may be significantly different from the bill passed in the House. If the Senate passes a version of the bill that is different from that passed by the House of Representatives, then the bill goes to a conference committee composed of both Senators and Representatives. Here it is "perfected" and differences must be resolved before it is sent to the President for action.

This process gives all of us ample opportunity to be vocal all through the process. Senator Jim DeMint was on Laura Ingraham's radio show earlier this week and he clearly indicated that what gets the ear of a legislator is a barrage of loud voices with one point of view--this is a block of votes! A block of votes is what keeps a politician employed. A block of votes is what can also send a legislator home for good. Dave McArthur has the potential to deliver a block of votes that could send Russ Carnahan home in 2010 if Rep. Carnahan sells his constituents down the river in this Cap and Trade legislation. Those of us who scream at the TV have a new role model in Dave McArthur who got tired of talking to the TV and decided to take his point of view public where he has certainly gotten the ear of legislators and the media. BRAVO DAVE!!!!