Breaking: Rep: Kevin McCarthy says Mark Kirk won't vote for cap and trade if it comes back to House for reconcile

I'll have more on the bi-weekly GOP Whip Team bloggers' call later this afternoon.

The word on the streets of Washington is President Obama will want to sign a cap-and-trade bill, the House version squeaked through by a 219-212 vote. During the question and answer session, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the Republican Chief Deputy Whip, was asked what would happen if the bill, assuming it passes the Senate, most likely with significant changes, returns to the House for reconciliation. That is the process in which differences in legislation are hashed out.

Patriot Room's Clyde Middleton asked if the reconciled bill could fail to be approved the House. McCarthy replied, "There's a very good chance of that. Mark Kirk, who was one of eight (Republicans) who voted for it...he now says if the bill comes back to the floor, he's not going to vote for it."

Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) added, "I talked to a lot of my freshman colleagues, they were kind of split on the other side of the aisle, many of them were forced to vote on that bill without having any chance of reading it."

Paulsen added about those other congressmen, "They're getting so much pressure from constituents back home to pay attention to what's in these bills now, they're going to take a second look to what they're voting on. I think that's a good sign."

Cap-and-trade is in reality a national energy tax. If you use electricity, you will pay this tax.

Related post:

It's official: Mark Kirk is against cap and trade

Mark Kirk repents (almost) on cap and trade

Technorati tags: Illinois Mark Kirk Congress illinois politics Republican climate change environment global warming Chicago North Shore Senate cap and trade tea party california kevin mccarthy erik paulsen minnesota