QUICK FACT: Beck falsely claims Obama's 2011 budget includes revenue from cap and trade legislation

Special Programs Climate & Energy

Written by Justin Berrier

Published

On the February 2 edition of Fox and Friends, Glenn Beck claimed that President Obama's proposed budget contains “magic money coming from things like cap-and-trade, which we don't have.” In fact, the 2011 proposed budget does not include estimates of cap-and-trade revenue.

From the February 2 edition of Fox News' Fox and Friends:

CARLSON: You were on the road with Bill O'Reilly --

BECK: Bill O'Reilly, lots of fun.

CARLSON: --which we're going to get to in a moment. But I'm sure you were keeping track of the news while you're away and one of the things unveiled yesterday was, of course, President Obama's budget.

BECK: Isn't it fantastic?

CARLSON: Well, I don't know.

BECK: I love it.

CARLSON: There's a lot of differing opinions out there, but I have a feeling that you --

BECK: Only a trillion and a half dollar deficit.

CARLSON: -- have a strong one.

BECK: Only trillion and a half, that's it, that's all. That's all we have to worry about, and there's all kinds of neat little things in there like magic money coming from things like cap-and-trade, which we don't have. I think that's fantastic. I love that.

Fact: President Obama's budget does not include revenue from cap-and-trade legislation

Reuters: "Obama budget drops revenue outlook for carbon trade." On February 1, Reuters reported that “last year the administration forecast revenues of $646 billion for 2012-2019 from a program in which the output of greenhouse gas would be capped and polluters would be forced to buy, and could later trade, emissions permits.” Reuters quoted an “administration official” who explained “unlike last year, we do not show an assumed amount of cap-and-trade revenue since the exact nature of the legislation remains in flux.”

Bloomberg: Obama's budget contains “no such estimate” on cap-and-trade revenues. A February 1 Bloomberg article reported: “President Barack Obama's budget drops an estimate that the ”cap-and-trade" system he backs to combat climate change would generate at least $646 billion in federal revenue. ... The president's budget plan last year assumed at least $646 billion in revenue from 2012 to 2019 from the sale of allowances, with some of the proceeds used to help fund a tax cut for middle-class families. No such estimate was offered today. Legislation to create such a system passed the House last year, only to stall in the Senate."

Mother Jones: 2011 Budget "doesn't contain" a “figure for expected revenue from cap and trade.” From Mother Jones:

The most significant thing about the Obama administration's 2011 energy budget is what it doesn't contain. Last year's budget projected that a cap and trade system would raise $79 billion from the auction of carbon credits in 2012, and $605 billion from the sale of credits over the following decade. This time around, the Obama administration hasn't named a dollar figure for expected revenue from cap and trade, or even noted when it expects to see a carbon cap in place.