The U.S. Senate is scheduled to debate and vote on the Lieberman-Warner "Climate Security Act" (S.2191 / S.3036) next week. This bill effectively imposes a massive hidden tax on carbon emissions through a cap-and-trade scheme.

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates the federal government stands to generate an additional $1.2 trillion in revenues over a seven-year period between 2012 and 2018. In addition, the CBO projects private-sector regulatory mandates would amount to more than $90 billion per year from 2012 to 2016.

The bill would result in an enormous expansion in government regulation and mandates, reducing our personal liberties. The Environmental Protection Agency would be charged with the daunting task of establishing emissions allowances for thousands of American manufacturers and electricity generators.  A diagram developed by the Chamber of Commerce reveals the pervasiveness of this new regulation (go here for an explanation of the chart).

A recent Wall Street Journal column concludes the Lieberman-Warner bill would be "the most extensive government reorganization of the American economy since the 1930s." An analysis by the Heritage Foundation estimates a $1.7 trillion to $4.8 trillion loss in U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2010 and 2030. U.S. job losses could exceed 700,000 in 2015 alone. At this same time, American consumers would be faced with dramatic price increases in food and energy, putting a significant strain on family budgets.

The impacts in Minnesota are just as dramatic. Projections for Minnesota indicate we could see over $2 billion loss in Gross State Product , $2.3 billion loss in personal income and a loss of over 55,000 jobs by 2030.  According to the Heritage Foundation, Minnesota is projected to rank #1 in the nation in job losses per capita. 

With energy prices at record highs, the last thing we need is more government regulation that will drive-up the costs of gas, drive jobs out of our state and make us all poorer while special interests line their pockets with the spoils.  But for some reason, Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman have both decided to co-sponsor this legislation. They need to hear from concerned Minnesotans as soon as possible  A vote on this bill could come in the next several days.

TAKE ACTION:  Visit www.NoCapAndTrade.com to sign a petition and send an urgent message to your elected officials urging them to reject the Lieberman-Warner bill.

Additional Resources:

• OPINION:  Michele Bachman - 'Cap and Trade' more like 'Tax and Trade'
• ARTICLE: Cap and Trade Hits Minnesota the Hardest
• OPINION: Charles Krauthammer - The Radicals are Back, Now Wielding the Environment
• WHITE PAPER: The Economics of America’s Climate Security Act
• POLL: Overwhelming Majority of Americans Oppose Lieberman-Warner Global Warming Proposal
• VIDEO: Cap & Trade's impact on coal industry.
• ARTICLE: Coal-Cap Disaster

The 85th legislature adjourned on Sunday, May 18 and at that very moment, the 2008 election season began. What had originally been four months of highly contentious legislative wrestling is now being portrayed as “one of the most successful sessions in decades.” At Monday’s press conference, legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle flanked the governor and touted the accomplishments of the 2008 session.

The DFL-controlled legislature had an aggressive agenda from the very beginning of the session to raise taxes, increase government spending, expand regulations and implement social engineering programs. While Republican minority leaders fought valiantly to block most of these measures, some caucus members broke ranks with leadership, thereby allowing some of these bills to slip through.

Thankfully, Governor Pawlenty vetoed many bills such as Legalized Gestational Surrogacy, Infant DNA Warehousing and Local Government Domestic Partnerships.  But the governor’s veto of the Transportation bill was overridden by six wayward Republican House members, thereby allowing one of the largest tax increases in Minnesota’s history to be passed into law.

The sound bytes being fed to Minnesotans by the mainstream media don’t begin to tell the whole story behind the 2008 legislative session. Our analysis seeks to separate the hype from the reality, thereby allowing Minnesotans to assess what they really got out of this year’s session.

Hype: A $935 million budget deficit was erased and the budget balanced without raising taxes.

Reality: The budget fix was nothing more than a band-aid and taxes were raised – significantly. Lest we forget, the override of the governor’s transportation bill veto cost us a $6.6 billion tax increase on sales, fuel and vehicle registrations. And if approved by voters this November, Minnesotans will be paying more in state sales taxes to fund arts programs and wildlife habitat.

The final budget deal also included a $125 million tax increase on corporations with foreign operations. This was sold to the public as “closing a corporate loophole,” as if corporations were doing something underhanded. In reality, this provision was enacted by the state legislature years ago to avoid driving corporations with foreign operations out of Minnesota.

Senate Minority Leader David Senjem (R - Rochester) cautioned that the fix relied too heavily on tapping the state's “rainy day” reserve fund and not enough on actual spending cuts. Nearly $500 million needed to balance the budget came from the state’s rainy day fund, tapping about 80% of the fund’s reserves. Senjem predicts the result will be a much worse budget problem in 2009.

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Hype: A 3.9% property tax cap resulting in $460 million in property tax reductions.

Reality: When does a tax increase become a reduction? When the government doesn’t raise taxes as much as they otherwise would, it’s billed as a tax cut. This is like expecting to gain 30 pounds and stepping on the scale to discover only a 20-pound gain. Using legislative math, that’s a ten-pound weight loss.

Most politicians somehow failed to mention that while they were creating the property tax “cap”, they were simultaneously increasing local government aid by $60 million. This sleight of hand maneuver essentially took taxpayer money out of one pocket and put it in another, thereby diluting the real impact of the property tax “cap”.

The so-called “cap” includes exemptions that allow communities to exceed 3.9%. Local governments can exceed the cap for things like population growth and emergency services. The cap also doesn’t include local school district referendums. And what happens when cities blow their budgets on non-essentials and then need more funding for police and fire departments, or when the cap expires in three years time? This “cap” is really more like an open-top visor. In reality, many Minnesotans will see property tax increases that well exceed 3.9% and their projected “savings” to Minnesota taxpayers will be nowhere near the claimed $460 million.

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Hype: Nation-leading health care reform that includes increased transparency, pay for performance, e-prescribing and tax credits.

Reality: While there are some positive aspects of the health care bill like greater consumer transparency and electronic prescriptions, its major thrust is to grow government involvement and enroll more families onto state-subsidized health care. Families making up to $57,000 now qualify for state welfare health plans, adding thousands of new people to taxpayer-funded health care. The bill adds insult to injury by offering a bounty to outfits (schools, non-profit groups, insurance brokers, etc) that recruit new dependents to feed at the public trough.

Grants are doled-out to local community health boards (more government bureaucracy) to try to enforce lifestyle changes targeting weight-loss and smoking cessation.

Government bureaucrats are given the power to define “quality,” determine physician compensation incentives based upon this definition and even decide what procedures are medically necessary.

Bottom line: this bill expands government involvement in health care, which will ultimately result in higher costs for patients and taxpayers. Unmet hospital costs resulting from the legislation will mean non-subsidized families will see an increase in their insurance premiums and doctor bills. Taxpayers will pick up the tab for the thousands of new people added to welfare health plans.

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Hype: The Central Corridor light rail line will ease traffic congestion and improve the environment.

Reality: The Central Corridor line, like the Hiawatha line, will be built at traffic grade, meaning it will significantly interfere with automotive traffic and eliminate most street parking. Delays at intersections will mean more idling vehicles, more congestion, more wasted fuel and more exhaust emissions. For some reason, no study was conducted to compare the rail transit proposal to bus transit for the Central Corridor.

The real reason Minnesota lawmakers allocated $70 million for the Central Corridor this session was that the state was in jeopardy of loosing $450 million in federal funding for the project. Even at that, it begs the question of where the rest of the money is going to come from to build a line that will cost more than $1 billion. The construction costs are just the first installment. Most, if not all, light rail lines across the country operate at a net loss and rely upon significant ongoing taxpayer funding to stay afloat. This means Minnesota taxpayers will have to annually ante-up on this boondoggle project for years to come.

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So, in the end, how did everyday Minnesotans really fare out of the session? Our approach to answering this question is to evaluate the session’s results within the context of some of our core values:

Q. Were there any meaningful reductions in government spending?

A. No. Despite this year’s budget deficit, the state legislature actually increased spending by 9.8%. House Minority Leader Rep. Marty Seifert (R – Marshall) said, “It is unfortunate that private sector job growth took a backburner to an expensive and explosive growth in government programs and services.”

Q. Were there reductions in taxes?

A. No, in fact there was a record $6.6 billion tax increase with the transportation bill. And other legislation, like the Green Solutions Act, sets the stage for the implementation of a carbon cap and trade system that will levy a huge tax increase upon all energy consumption in our state in the future.

Q. Were there reductions in the government’s involvement in the lives of everyday citizens?

A. No, in fact there were increases in government involvement in areas like ticket sales, teen drivers and car windows. Creeping socialism was especially evident in the health care legislation with tobacco and weig ...

This 3 minute video from ABC's "Person of the Week" provides a stark contrast to the treatment that VETS FOR FREEDOM received when trying to visit Forest Lake High School.  High school administrators and those who organized the protest threat resulting in the cancellation of the presentation at the school would do well to watch this video and learn the meaning of true patriotism.

In 1961, then private citizen Ronald Reagan partnered with the American Medical Association to record this 10 minute speech that was to become part of what was known as Operation Coffee Cup (OCC).  OCC was a campaign conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA) in opposition to the Democrats' plans to extend Social Security to include health insurance for the elderly, later known as Medicare.  As part of the program, doctors' wives would organize coffee meetings and play the Reagan recording to convince acquaintances to write letters to Congress opposing the program. Reagan's arguments against socialized medicine ring as true today as they did over 40 years ago. Minnesota state legislators pushing for increased government involvement in health care should take a moment to reflect on Reagan's comments.

Want to get a first hand look at government controlled health care?  Watch this brief video and see how a Canadian was forced to seek care in the United States in order to save his life.

Some Minnesota politicians believe that Minnesota should adopt a health care plan similar to that of Canada.  But these politicians would do well to consider some of the outcomes associated with the Canadian system, such as:

- Waits up to 5 days in Emergency rooms
- Three-year waiting list for a pain clinic
- Waits of four months for radiation therapy for cancer patients
- Declining enrollment in medical school resulting in too few doctors and nurses
- Closing hospitals to save costs
- 12 % of Canadians can’t find a family physician.

There are countless examples of why adopting a Canadian-style health care program is bad public policy for Minnesota.

Minnesota Majority has learned that each of the seven metro County Boards must adopt a formal resolution in order to put the sales tax and vehicle excise tax into effect within their respective counties.  This means that should a Board fail to adopt the resolution, the tax increases will not go into effect within that county.  Nearly 100% of the $1.1 billion sales and excise tax increase will be dedicated to boondoggle mass transit programs which will have very little, if any benefit for residents in some counties.  If enough citizens revolt and contact their County Commissioners, there's a chance they could block these tax increases from being implemented in their counties.  We have established an Action Alert providing individuals with the contact information for their County Commissioners.

Six Republicans State Representatives and two State Senators have broken ranks with caucus leaders, voting in favor of a massive $6.6 billion tax increase, one of the largest in the state's history.

Hall of Shame: Republicans Voting in Favor of Record Tax Increases

Rep. Jim Abler (Anoka) 651.296.1729	Rep. Heidgerken (Freeport) 651.296.4317	Rep. Hamilton (Mountain Lake) 651.296.5373	Rep. Erhardt (Edina) 651.296.4373	Rep. Peterson (Bloomington) 651.296.7803	Rep. Tingelstad (Andover) 651.296.5369

Sen. Dille  (Dassel) 651.296.4131	Sen. Frederickson (New Ulm) 651.296.8138

The only hope now is to convince these wayward Republicans to uphold Governor Pawlenty's anticipated veto.  We have issued an Action Alert encouraging all Minnesotans to contact their legislators and ask them to support the Governor's veto.

This terrible tragedy has underscored the fact that there are real costs of allowing illegal aliens to freely roam in the State of Minnesota.  Officials must answer some very tough questions that will ultimately allow us to understand what went wrong allowing this tragedy to occur.  Questions such as:

• Why was Morales not deported when she was originally arrested in 2006?  Was this a situation of "sanctuary city" policies encouraging law enforcement agents to look the other way?
• How was she able to obtain a Minnesota state identification card?  How many other illegals have been issued these cards?
• How was Morales able to gain employment at Jennie-O Turkey?  Why wasn't her immigration status checked?  How many other illegals are working at Jennie-O today?

Here's a link to a petition drive we originally launched in 2007 calling for our elected officials to get tough on illegal immigration in Minnesota.

Marty Seifert does an outstanding job of attacking the DFL's record $6.6 billion tax increase.  Thanks to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for the video.

State Sen. Dick Day (R, Owatonna) did a marvelous job of arguing against the massive transportation bill tonight.  Here are excepts of his statements:

The Pawlenty-Molnau administration has invested more in transportation in Minnesota than any other administration in the state's history. In their very first year in office they successfully sponsored the largest ever transportation package: $800 million for more than 200 highway projects throughout the state, $100 million for road maintenance and safety, and $40 million for transit.

Thanks to the work we have done, congestion has gone down, from a peak of 293 miles in 2003 to 267 miles in 2006, according to a brand new study by the Department of Transportation.

In 2006 we also had the least number of fatalities since World War II (482).

A list of the Pawlenty-Molnau Major Highway Projects in the Twin Cities includes:

• I-94/I-694 from Brooklyn Blvd to I-494
• Hwy 100 north of I-394
• I-394 HOV lane conversion to MnPASS
• I-394 westbound auxiliary lane from Louisiana Ave to Hwy 169
• I-494 from France Ave to Hwy 212
• I-494 from Hwy 5 to Carlson Parkway
• I-494 first portion of Wakota Bridge
• I-94 from McKnight Rd to Hwy 120
• Hwy 100 auxiliary lanes from Hwy 7 to I-394 Hwy 169 at Anderson Lakes Parkway and Pioneer Trail

In greater Minnesota, numerous projects have been completed as well:

• Hwy 371 north of Little Falls
• Hwy 53 in Duluth
• Hwy 52 in Rochester
• Hwy 63 in Rochester
• Hwy 14 from Janesville to Waseca
• Interchange on Hwy 10 at Hwy 32 in Clay County Interchange on Hwy 169 at Hwy 19 near Henderson Hwy 23 through Spicer Hwy 336 from I-94 to Hwy 10 in Moorhead Main Avenue Bridge in Moorhead

Jesse Ventura was the one who reduced tab fees as his part of the three-way budget deal, taking millions out of transportation funding.

We currently spend $298 million dollars every biennium on transit, subsidizing the 4% of people who don't drive cars and don't want to pay the cost of their own transportation. We learned from Sen. Dibble on the floor last night that they have a $30 million shortfall this year that we're going to have to cover. Sen. Day suggested raising fares and taking tickets, which they don't do now. He said, but I can't corroborate, that 50% of the rides are at night and on weekends. I think that may still be true but it's old information.

Sen. Day talked about the 33,000 jobs that this bill is supposedly going to create. He spoke with FlatIron who have about 350 workers on the ground and may hire 100 or more additional workers this summer to complete this $350 million project. Sen. Day speculated that Sen. Murphy must be bringing bricks, 40 bricks at a time. in by rickshaw in order to hire 33,000 construction workers. The Democrats used a federal formula to come up with their numbers, and in fact only 19% or 6,200 of those jobs will go to construction workers. Over 47% (15,500) are indirect jobs such as suppliers of equipment and materials, and 34% (11,200) will be created or supported by the previous workers spending their money for fast food or a pair of shoes.

He also mentioned all the transportation packages he has authored in the past which variously raised the gas tax a nickel, imposed a new car surcharge, raised revenue from slots (he said, we all know why that never passed, but he didn't say outright: a DFL bought and paid for by the tribes), and what we called a light rail TIF which would have captured some of the increased property value from areas along the Hiawatha line--which is in the bill as a captured value study. And last year he carried the governor's bonding bill, which leveraged the MVST money to get $1.7 billion in bonds. None of these ideas satisfied the DFL at the time, but they have all appeared in one form or another in the 2007 and 2008 transportation bill.

House Republican leadership unveiled an alternative transportation proposal designed to address Minnesota's transportation system needs without raising taxes.  A comparison chart illustrating the differences between the DFL and GOP proposals is provided in the diagram below:

According to a press release issued by House Minority Leader Marty Seifert (R, Marshall), the GOP plan invests more than seven times as much in local road and bridges than the DFL plan and makes use of reliable, long-term funding to sufficiently build and maintain Minnesota's transportation systems without burdening taxpayers, while keeping healthy commitments to other areas of government.

Today DFL leaders introduced a new transportation bill calling for a whopping $8.5 billion tax increase over 10 years.  At this morning's press conference, Senator Steve Murphy (DFL, Redwing), chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, tried to position the bill as a "jobs program", claiming the additional spending would create 33,000 new jobs each year for the next 5 years.  The specifics of the proposal include:

-- 25% increase in the state's gas tax, with annual automatic increases pegged to the CPI

-- 1/2 percent sales metro sales tax increase (with the possibility for similar increases outside the metro area)

-- increases in motor vehicle registration tax.

Senator Murphy claimed that the indexed gas tax increase would avoid the state legislature from having to revist the gas tax issue on a regular basis.  But Wisconsin recently rescinded a similar automatic gas tax increase because it resulted in the state having one of the highest gas tax rates in the nation. 

Bill sponsors included a $25 tax credit to offer an offset for low-income households.  But the proposed tax increase amounts to over $4000 per household over 10 years, eclipsing any proposed offset.  Gas prices are already at record levels and Minnesota is in an economic slowdown.  The proposed tax increase would further put the brakes on Minnesota's economy and place a huge additional tax burden on those least able to afford it. 

The bill includes funding for light rail, a proposal that many people believe has more to do with social engineering versus addressing existing public needs.  David Strom of the Free Markets Institute comments on light rail proposals in his recent column entitled, "A Boondoggle at Any Price".

Bill opponents also claim that there's plenty of money available to fund required improvements to Minnesota's transportation infrastructure.  The basic issue comes down to better allocating state and federal tax dollars towards the highest priority projects.

Senator Murphy suggested that DFL leaders were planning to "fast path" the bill through the legislature so that it would be on the governor's desk by the end of February.  When questioned about trying to comprise with those who might oppose this legislation, Senator Murphy seemed to suggest that comprises would not be considered.

You might recall that Senator Murphy was the legislator who went on a tirade after the I-35W bridge collapse last August, implying the collapse was due to inadequate funding for maintenance.  Murphy used the incident to call for a substantial increases in transportation funding and the resignation of Transportation Secretary Carol Molnau.  Recent findings by the National Transportation Safety Board, however, indicate that the bridge collapse was likely due to a design flaw, not a lack of maintenance.  A review of the facts suggests Minnesota may have an issue with how tax revenue is being allocated, not a lack of funding.

Send a message to your elected officials to tell them to SAY NO to this massive spending boondoggle.

One must wonder how a “reporter” like Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Pioneer Press actually goes about the process of writing a “story” about an organization with which she personally disagrees. Let’s give it a try.

We now appear to have evidence of what most people have suspected for years.  As of December 3, the Star Tribune newspaper had published just six letters in response to Nick Coleman’s attack piece on Archbishop Nienstedt (besides the Archbishop's formal response).  And four of the six letters were in support of Coleman.  But here's the most revealing fact exposing the newspaper's apparent bias -- NOT ONE of the over 60 letters critical of Coleman's column submitted through our website were published by the newspaper.

You don’t have to be Catholic to be concerned about the harsh attacks recently levied against John Nienstedt, Coadjutor Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.  For the second time in less than a week, Archbishop John Nienstedt has been publically vilified for simply communicating the Catholic Church’s teaching on human sexuality.  In today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nick Coleman castigated the Archbishop for his recent column in the Catholic Spirit newspaper in which the Archbishop concisely and charitably explained the Catholic Church's teaching regarding a homosexual's obligation to chastity and the Church's obligation to support and encourage such a chaste lifestyle.  Nick Coleman’s criticisms, together with those of other homosexual activists, expose a deep-seated intolerance and hatred some have towards those who hold traditional values regarding human sexuality.  Send a note of thanks to Archbishop Nienstedt for standing-up to the intimidation tactics of homosexual activists.  Send a message to Star Tribune's executive management in response to Nick Coleman's column.

UPDATES: Read Archbishop Nienstedt's response letter to Nick Coleman's column.  Watch a video news story about protestors who gathered at the Catherderal of St. Paul.