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Lieberman warns against ‘false’ energy bill, sees 20 swing votes on carbon caps
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Sunday that he sees 20 swing votes in play for including greenhouse gas limits in energy legislation that the White House and Senate Democratic leaders hope to advance this summer.
Lieberman and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) are struggling to
win political traction for their sweeping climate change and energy bill.
But Lieberman, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said there are 50 senators that want to put a price on emitting carbon, 30 against it and 20 members who are undecided.
“We need half of the undecided and we can do it,” Lieberman said, adding that President Barack Obama’s effort to win passage of a sweeping energy bill this summer has given a lift to the effort.
Lieberman is among the senators who plan to attend a White
House meeting on energy that Obama is hosting Wednesday.
Lieberman also said he’s open to narrower climate bill that would restrict emissions limits to electric power plants only, an idea that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel last week said will be part of discussions with lawmakers.
“I think we have got a fighting chance at this, and we have got to do it and I hope the spill in the Gulf will motivate us to do it,” he said.
But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), speaking on the same program, said advocates of carbon mandates don’t have 60 votes. She cited concerns that cap-and-trade plans would harm the economy.
“I don’t think there is the political ability to put a price on carbon as we are speaking. There is nothing out there that I believe gains the acceptance of folks to get to 60,” she said.
On "Fox News Sunday," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the White House was seizing on the oil spill to push cap-and-trade. "And this has been a big item on the far left to-do list, a national energy tax," he said. "Mark my words, that is precisely what they intend to do, seize on the crisis in the gulf to try to pass this."
McConnell said "there's a bipartisan majority in the Senate in opposition to a national energy tax, to cap and trade."
Murkowski instead touted bipartisan energy legislation that the Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved a year ago. It contains a suite of provisions to boost energy efficiency and alternative energy development but lacks carbon provisions.
“Let’s build on something like that, let’s build on the art of the possible, instead of requiring, as the president seems to want to do, that we have to have a cap-and-trade piece or it isn’t comprehensive,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to bring an energy bill to the floor this summer, but said after meeting with the Democratic caucus last week that no decisions have been made about whether carbon provisions will be in the mix.
Lieberman and other advocates of emissions limits say they are vital to unleashing U.S. investment in alternative energy development, and believe this will create scores of jobs.
He warned against a “false” energy bill that omits climate provisions.
“The difference between a really strong energy independence bill and one that just is called an energy independence bill is whether we are willing to put a cap on carbon pollution and a price on carbon pollution,” he said.
Emanuel said Friday that one idea that will be discussed when Obama meets with senators Wednesday is limiting carbon caps to electric utilities only.
“The idea of a ‘utilities only’ [approach] will also be welcomed,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
Lieberman said Sunday that “I would like to look at that.” But
Murkowski suggested that’s not viable either.
“It still puts you in the world of cap-and-trade and this is where we just simply have not been able to get to 60,” she said of limiting emissions caps to electric utilities.
Obama’s Oval Office speech on the oil spill and energy last week prompted speculation that he is open to energy legislation that omits emissions limits, even though a climate bill has been a longstanding White House goal.
Obama said the sweeping climate and energy bill the House
approved last year – which has an economy-wide cap-and-trade plan at its core –
reflects his “principles.”
But Obama also said he’s open to ideas from both parties, and speech lacked any mention of emissions caps or global warming beyond the reference to the House bill.
Emanuel, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, said Obama is committed to dealing “fundamentally” with carbon emissions but steered clear of specifics on what should be in Senate legislation.
“His goal now, now that the House passed a bill, is to get the Senate to pass a comprehensive energy bill that reduces our dependence on foreign oil, makes key investments in the areas of alternative energy so America leads in that space, and deals fundamentally with the environmental degradation that happens from carbon pollution,” Emanuel said.
This story was updated at 11:20 a.m.
