AFP targets key senators in the cap-and-trade debate at grassroots rallies

Fourth leg of cross-country “Hot Air Tour” begins August 4th, travels to four states

As debate on cap-and-trade legislation heats up in Congress, the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity is launching the fourth leg of its 2009 Nationwide Hot Air Tour on August 4th, exposing the extreme economic costs of proposed cap-and-trade legislation to the American taxpayer.

The tour will bring its 70-foot-tall hot air balloon to Monroe, Louisiana, Jonesboro and El Dorado, Arkansas, Sikeston, Missouri and Evansville, Indiana from August 4-6.

“This cap-and-trade scheme is nothing more than a tax on energy- plain and simple,” said AFP President Tim Phillips. “We think American families need to know what these proposals will cost them – lost jobs, even higher energy prices, and less freedom.”

The Hot Air Tour has the goal of building grassroots pressure against costly state, local, and federal climate change policies. AFP has pledged to mobilize citizens in order to fight off any attempts to pass a cap-and-trade regulatory scheme, traveling to 13 states in April and June of this year and hosting grassroots rallies with hundreds of citizen activists.

“As cap-and-trade legislation moves quickly into the Senate, we’re asking citizens at each event to urge their legislators to sign our No Climate Tax Pledge,” said Phillips. “We’re asking them to reject any form of the bill that increases the burden on taxpayers.”

Nearly 200 office holders have already taken the pledge, and citizens can send letters urging their legislators to sign the pledge at www.noclimatetax.com.

Below is the schedule of Hot Air Tour events:

Tuesday – August 4, 2009

Monroe, LA – 9:00 - 10:30AM

El Dorado, AR – 5:00 -6:30 PM

Wednesday – August 5, 2009
Jonesboro, AR – 9:00-10:30 AM

Sikeston, MO – 5:00-6:30 PM

Thursday – August 6, 2009
Evansville, IN – 9:00 – 10:30AM

More information about the Hot Air Tour, including a full schedule of events, is available online at www.HotAirTour.org.