That's usually a normal item to mention, like some bill costs "$2.6 billion" or "$455 million."

So I searched the internet and found that no one else was giving any hard and fast estimates either.

What started me thinking about it was one thing that arose out of the debate, a $50 million promise that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Florida) won from Democratic leaders for a hurricane research center in his home district around Orlando.

But how would that money be funded? From money that would come in from polluters buying permits to emit pollutants that lead to global warming.

In other words, it's an earmark from the money raised by the global warming bill.

And you know that won't be the last one, eh?

As for how much this thing is going to cost, you can come up with a lot of different answers, depending on how you go through the bill.

One thing I zeroed in on were certain parts of the bill that were entitled "Authorization of Appropriations."

In other words, the bill "authorizes" the Congress to spend certain amounts for certain items in the Cap and Trade legislation.

But in many cases, it authorizes a never ending amount of money, just "such sums" as might be necessary.

"There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph," it says on page 24 of the Waxman Amendment.

Oh, you just gotta like that one. "Such sums as may be necessary."

I think I would call that an open-ended appropriation.

That was in Section 123, dealing with "Plug In Electric Drive Vehicle Manufacturing."

So it made me wonder. How much more money is authorized in this bill? Here is what I found.

• "such sums as may be necessary" for "Large Scale Vehicle Electrification Program"
• $4 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program
• "Such sums as may be necessary" for State Energy and Environment Development Accounts
• "such sums" for "Smart Grid Peak Demand Reduction"
• "such sums" for national power grid planning
• $50 million per year in funding for colleges and universities for "Building Assessment Centers," to promote energy efficient buildings
• "such sums" for study of "Ocean Renewable Energy"
• "such sums as may be necessary" for the establishment of a "Clean Energy Investment Fund"
• $20 million for a "Clean Technology Business Competition Grant Program"
• $30 million for the "National Bioenergy Partnership"
• "such sums as necessary" for the "Office of Consumer Advocacy"
• $1 billion over ten years and then "such sums as necessary" for section dealing with "Greater Energy Efficiency in Building Codes"
• $280 million for "Building Retrofit Program"
• $610 million over 10 years for "Building Energy Performance Labeling Program"
• "such sums as necessary" for section dealing with "Tree Planting Programs"
  
• $1.2 billion for "Best In Class Appliances Deployment Program"
  
• $87.5 million for next three years, then $50 million indexed to inflation thereafter for "water efficient products, buildings, products and services," to promote water conservation
• $425 million over the next five years, then $150 million per year thereafter for "Water Efficient Product Rebate Programs"
• $100 million for "Certified Stove Program" (wood or pellet)
• $5 million per year for Energy Star Standards
• "such sums as necessary" for Transportation Efficiency grants
• "such sums as necessary" for "Smartway Transportation Efficiency Program"
• "such sums as necessary" for "Electric and Thermal Waste Energy Recovery Program"
  
• $350 million for "Motor Efficiency Rebate Program"
• $50 million for "Low Income Energy Efficiency Program"
• "such sums as necessary" for "Affiliated Island Energy Independence Team"
• $380 million for "Product Carbon Disclosure Program"
• "such sums as necessary" for Global Warming monitoring
• "such sums as necessary" for National Academy of Sciences review of methods being used to combat global warming
• "such sums as necessary" for section dealing with "Black Carbon"
• $260 million for "High Efficiency Gas Turbine Research, Development and Demonstration"
• $80 million in "Community Building Code Administration Grants"

  So there you go. That's a good chunk of cash there, and it doesn't even take into account all of the money that would be brought in from selling the emission credits which are at the heart of the Cap and Trade process.

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