"The American Clean Energy and Security Act... is a unilateral policy that will impose significant costs on U.S. manufacturers, leading to job losses and outsourcing to countries with less stringent environmental regulations like China and India. Instead of fostering green jobs, this cap-and-trade system will act as a energy tax on American consumers, reducing our global competitiveness while failing to significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions."
— Representative Mike Pence, Speech on the House Floor, June 2009
Based on the excerpt, the debate surrounding the legislation most directly reflects which of the following developments in the early twenty-first century?
- AA bipartisan consensus that supply-side policies should include federal subsidies and government spending for green energy
- BA foreign policy shift that prioritized international climate treaties over unilateral national security measures
- Growing political polarization over the extent of federal regulatory authority and its impact on the economyCevap
- DThe successful revival of Great Society-era coalitions to pass sweeping federal conservation acts
Cevap
Growing political polarization over the extent of federal regulatory authority and its impact on the economy
The correct answer is correct because the debate over the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Waxman-Markey) of 2009 illustrates the deep political division between those advocating for federal action to address climate change and those concerned about the economic costs and regulatory burdens of such policies. This polarization has defined 21st-century environmental and energy debates.
Adım Adım Çözüm
Anahtar Kavram
The political conflict in the 21st century over environmental regulations versus economic interests.