As the president and congressional democrats try to push health care reform despite strong republican and public opposition, several of the President’s other key agenda items are being put on the political back burner.

“It’s a difficult schedule” with many members already “anxious” about health care reform” - Senator Dick Durbin

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently commented that it would be difficult to get health care reform and cap and trade passed this year.  With the President calling for health care reform, cap and trade, and new financial regulation this year, Senator Durbin indicated that it is unclear what the priority is after health care reform.

Part of the issue is that the Democrats are trying to push through legislation with controversial provisions that don’t have broad public support let alone bipartisan support.

Earlier in the year, it seemed possible that cap and trade would be stopped in the Senate, but it now seems that the “hurry up and rush through” tactic is backfiring and may push cap and trade out until next year.

Those in congress that were brave enough to do their jobs this August received an earful of reservations on health care reform and are worried about their political futures with an election coming in 2010.  If they follow the Democrat Party leadership and vote against their constituents, they may find themselves part of the unemployment statistics.

If the congressional leadership would only try to pass legislation that most of the congress and public support, they would be able to accomplish much more.  However, since they continue to push unpopular solutions to problems that everyone agrees needs to be addressed, lets hope these bills continue to stall in congress.

MichelleMalkin.com has a list of which representatives voted against their party.

However, there is hope that this massive tax increase will be defeated in the senate.  Jay Cost at Realclearpolitics.com did a great job of of analyzing which senators are under pressure to defeat the bill.  According to the analysis, there are 15 senate democrats that will be under pressure to vote against the bill as their state voted against it in the house.

The key here is that if your senator is listed as being under moderate or significant pressure to vote against the bill, you need to call or email them now to let them know you do not support this tax increase to solve a problem that doesn’t even exist.  You can find the phone numbers and email addresses of your senators here.  If you lack the courage to call, it is very easy to email your senators.  Contact them now and let them know what you think.

Our government moved another step closer today to instituting a new major energy tax that will ultimately be paid for by every consumers.  There is even a provision in the bill that gives money to low income households to help off-set the price increases in energy usage.

There are so many things wrong with this bill, it is hard to know where to start.  The most glaring issue is that our government is in a hurry to pass this bill.  Why?  More and more studies are being published that show that man made global warming is at best wrong and and worst a hoax.

The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. — 13 times the number who authored the U.N.’s 2007 climate summary for policymakers.

There is a great story in the WSJ by Kimberly A. Strassel detailing several of the facts that our government and our media refuse to tell us.  As more and more people become aware of the lies that have been told to the American people, congress is worried that there will be ramifications for supporting the bill if they don’t act now.

Through yesterday, the Waxman-Markey bill totaled a little over 1,000 pages.  Early this morning, Congressman Waxman introduced an additional 300 pages of legislation to the bill.  I am concerned that most congressmen won’t even bother to read the new provisions before voting to pass the bill.  There is a good post over at Hotair laying out further issues with the bill.

The cost of the bill is also up for debate.  At one point, the CBO reported that it would cost the average American over $6,000 per year in extra costs.  This made Nancy Pelosi very mad and shortly afterward, the CBO came out with a new estimate of only a few hundred dollars per year per household.  However, this is due to a provision in the bill that relaxed the standards and prices for the next 10 years.  After which, you can expect to pay an additional $6,000 in energy taxes.  All of this to combat man made climate change which as at least highly debatable.

For example, it is estimated that the price of gas would raise by approximately 77 cents a gallon as oil refineries pay for additional permits.

If you want to put a stop to this non-sense, I urge you to call your representative.  Michelle Malkin has a post that lets you know who you should call and how to get in touch with them.  If you are so sure that man is causing global warming that you are willing to pay $6,000 to fight it, then by all means, call your representative to support them.  However, if you are sick and tired of legislation being rammed down your throat, call you representative and let them know that you do not support the Waxman Markey bill.