A handful of area residents gathered at the Waynesville-St. Robert Senior Center to participate in a one of U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s “Kitchen Table Talks” with members of the Senator’s staff.
David Rauch, District Director, took patrons comments, promising to deliver the messages to McCaskill.
Several in attendance expressed concern about pending cap and trade legislation, which aims to reduce the amount of pollution companies produce.
Under the legislation, companies would have permits that allow them to emit a certain amount of a pollutant.
Businesses that go beyond their limit would be required to purchase credits from other companies that pollute less and don’t use all of their credits.
If such legislation were to pass, the cost of the program would likely be passed down to consumers through product price increases. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the bill’s success would cost the average family an additional $1,600 per year.
“We have folks that cannot afford higher bills,” Dwayne Cartwright, Intercounty Electric Cooperative manager, said, noting that while the company believes in clean energy, it also needs to be able to take care of its customers.
Several others spoke of the unlikelihood that a United States push to lower carbon will make an actual difference without having countries such as India and China on board as well.
Others spoke about health care legislation and requested that Rauch tell McCaskill they want Congress to slow down before enacting anything as passage of such legislation will affect them and generations to come.
“If I ran my personal checking account like we are running ours in this country, I’d be in bankruptcy court or in jail,” Lonnie Durand, a resident, said.
“My concern with our representative government is that they’re not representing us anymore,” he continued. “We don’t support (the legislation) not just (because of) the money, but the idea behind it.”
Waynesville, Mo. —
