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Senate inches toward energy deal |
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By J. Taylor Rushing
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Posted: 07/17/08 03:43 PM [ET] |
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Senate leaders signaled Thursday that debate over an energy bill will begin next Tuesday, although specific agreements are still to come on the shape and schedule of deliberation.
Democrats and Republicans largely spent the day trying to influence those agreements, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) angling to force the GOP into allowing debate on a speculation crackdown and Republicans insisting on expanded oil drilling. No roll-call votes are likely until at least Tuesday, however, which sets up a busy final two weeks in July before lawmakers leave for their August recess.
One small but important breakthrough Thursday: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Republicans would support cloture if Reid files it as expected, although Kyl also left little doubt that the GOP will quickly press to amend the speculation bill with a production-based proposal.
“We’re going to proceed,” Kyl said when asked if he would vote for cloture. “I am, yeah, and I assume other people are. We’ve got to get on the subject, and we’ve got to get something resolved. The motion to proceed is not the question. It’s what happens thereafter.”
Speaking earlier, Reid and four other top Democrats said they would only allow Republicans to offer their own proposals if the GOP first allowed cloture on a standalone speculation bill.
“Speculation is where we’re starting,” Reid said. “It’s not the only problem, but it is certainly a major problem.”
Reid said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission believes at least 30 percent of the recent price inflation is due to speculation, and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) cited statistics from a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee report that said speculation in oil futures has increased from 38 percent in 2000 to 71 percent this year.
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who is negotiating directly with Kyl on next week’s debate process, said Democrats will propose side-by-side bills with 60-vote thresholds on each. The goal, Durbin said, is to keep debate focused on one topic at a time.
“We’re offering the same opportunity to the Republicans as to the Democrats,” Durbin said. “We offer a speculation bill that needs 60 votes, and they can offer an alternative that needs 60 votes. We offer an energy bill that needs 60 votes, they offer an energy bill that needs 60 votes.”
A 60-vote threshold on such proposals holds a key advantage for both parties. For Republicans, it allows them the chance to mobilize and block any speculation crackdown they choose to oppose, and for Democrats the threshold allows the conference to survive the loss of a few defecting members.
Durbin made clear that beyond speculation, a Democratic energy bill would not likely include any proposals to expand offshore drilling into areas not currently leased. Democratic leaders have been pressing Republicans hard in recent weeks over statistics that oil companies have leased 68 million acres that they are not currently using.
Reid, in fact, called the GOP’s push for more drilling a “red herring” on Thursday, reminding reporters that Democrats supported a bill in the last Congress that opened up 8.3 million more offshore acres that haven’t been used.
“They haven’t driven a rowboat across it,” Reid said. “They haven’t even gone fishing there. They’ve done nothing.” |
