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Senate gives up on moving climate bill before August break
The Senate on Thursday abandoned plans to take up climate change legislation before the August break, likely dooming the effort for the rest of the year.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) insisted the Senate could
return to climate change this fall, but that proposition seems doubtful
in an election year in which Democrats are wary of losing their
majorities in the House and Senate.
As a result, Reid’s move dealt a tough blow to environmentalists and
many Democrats who had believed President Obama’s first years in
office, coinciding with large Democratic majorities in the House and
Senate, represented a golden opportunity to win legislation imposing
ceilings on greenhouse gas emissions.
Reid announced his move in a meeting with the Democratic caucus. He
outlined plans to move a limited energy bill next week — focused on
natural gas-powered trucks and home efficiency retrofits — that also
contains a legislative response to the Gulf oil spill.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), author of the leading Senate climate
change plans, along with Reid vowed to keep pushing to enact curbs on
heat-trapping emissions.
Kerry acknowledged the climate effort is currently short of 60
votes, but said there is momentum to gain GOP support. And, he said,
the White House has his back on the effort to move ambitious climate
and energy legislation.
“President Obama called me before this meeting and said point blank
that he is committed to working in these next days at a more intensive
pace together with [White House climate adviser] Carol Browner and
other members of the administration to help bring together the ability
to find 60 votes for that comprehensive legislation,” he said, flanked
by Reid and Browner in the Capitol.
Senate aides also said Reid’s decision reflected the packed floor
schedule the Senate faces, and that he has not abandoned plans to try
and bring up a broader climate and energy plan later in the year.
Reid blamed the GOP and said many Democrats wanted to move forward with climate change.
“Unfortunately, at this time, we don’t have a single Republican
working with us toward achieving this goal,” Reid said after the
Democratic caucus meeting.
But Republicans crowed, and said the move is a reflection that
climate change advocates lack the votes in the Senate to move forward.
Many Democrats have reservations about imposing limits on greenhouse
gases, especially during a rocky economy.
“Count the votes on the Democratic side,” said Robert Dillon,
spokesman for Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa
Murkowski (R-Alaska). “It’s a complete red herring for Sen. Reid to try
to blame Republicans when clearly the support is not there on the
Democratic side to place a national energy tax on America.”
Environmentalists signaled they would shift their focus to
protecting the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate
greenhouse gas emissions, which some lawmakers want to roll back.
“There is still a chance in this Congress, but there [are] also
efforts going on in the states, which are making big inroads, the EPA
and the [Department of Transportation] have made progress in terms of
automobile pollution, and the EPA is going to step up, as it is
beginning to do,” said League of Conservation Voters President Gene
Karpinski after Reid’s announcement.
Environmentalists privately acknowledge that the odds of moving even
a narrowed carbon plan are remote, but they stopped short of calling
the effort dead.
The limited bill the Senate will move to next week will also not
include other proposals aimed at spurring “clean” energy — such as a
nationwide renewable electricity standard — and curbing oil use.
It would include a controversial Democratic proposal to
retroactively remove liability limits for BP and other oil companies
responsible for oil spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico. The
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in June approved that
language from Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) with only one Republican —
Sen. David Vitter (La.) — in support on the panel.
Reid said the oil spill provisions would “hold BP accountable to
ensure that they clean up their mess” and try to prevent future spills.
Lawmakers have crafted a range of plans that toughen offshore rig
safety standards and lift caps on industry liability for damages from
offshore spills.
The legislation also includes a plan to convert large diesel-powered
trucks to run on natural gas; a program aimed at making residences more
energy-efficient known as “HOMESTAR”; and added funding for land and
water conservation.
Reid said these provisions would represent steps toward increasing
green jobs, cutting pollution and reducing domestic oil dependence.
“This is what we can do now,” Reid said. “We’re going to continue to work on energy legislation.”
