The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Chris Horner used the U.S. Freedom of Information Act to uncover internal documents from the Obama administration in which Treasury Department officials admit that establishing a cap-and-trade energy rationing scheme would impose a steep energy tax on American families.

The CEI maintains GlobalWarming.org, a climate change website focused on exposing flawed economic, scientific, and risk analysis. A post dated September 15 on that site says the Treasury Department’s admission of a “steep energy tax” contradicts claims by Democratic leadership that cap-and-trade for carbon dioxide emissions would boost the economy.

In fact, this massive new energy tax would depress economic growth by increasing utility bills and gasoline prices, according to the CEI. Treasury Department officials suggest that a cap-and-trade scheme would cost consumers hundreds of billions of dollars.

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