President Convenes Senators for Final Chance at Climate Bill This Year |
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/22/22climatewire-president-convenes-senators-for-final-chance-13775.html
President Obama will attempt to seize control of the Senate's splintered climate debate tomorrow with a goal to achieve some greenhouse gas emission restrictions before midterm elections.
The president will hear from key energy senators from both parties during a White House meeting intended to dislodge the mired Senate climate debate, which appears to have failed to build enough momentum behind a plan to put a price on carbon dioxide.
The move follows a series of signals from the White House last week that sought to redraw the legislative landscape, including a willingness to entertain calls for a slimmer carbon cap applied only on utilities. That is seen by some as a strong assertion by the administration that a leading Senate proposal to charge emitters in the transportation, industrial and electric sectors is too broad to pass.
"I think the chances of a comprehensive bill are abysmal," Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said in an interview last week, referring to legislation offered by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).
"Do I think there is a chance of something that is narrower for carbon, like the pricing of utilities? I think that's possible," she added. "If all we can get is utilities, it's not bad."
Obama will convene his meeting with less than 30 days of business left on the Senate schedule, racing lawmakers toward confrontational midterm elections punctuated by boiling conservative unrest with expanding government programs, like cap and trade.
A handful of crucial senators are planning to attend, including Richard Lugar (Ind.), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), all Republicans whose support Obama will seek to eventually secure. Democrat Sherrod Brown (Ohio), another undecided senator, will also be there, according to a survey of offices by E&E.
Listening to moderates
They will join a bipartisan group of other senators, perhaps including Republicans Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.); the majority leader, Democrat Harry Reid (Nev.); and Democrats Jeff Bingaman (N.M.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Kerry and Lieberman, according to press accounts and observers.
But despite the looming deadline for congressional action, Obama might use the meeting to listen, rather than shove undecided lawmakers toward a decision.
"I don't think they're going to come out with a deal," said Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with connections to the administration. "This is a listening session, and [it] will provide data for the president to then go talk to members one-on-one to determine what we need to do to get to 'yes.'"
Key among those senators is Lugar, who is against cap and trade but recently proposed a bill that would cut greenhouse gas emissions through aggressive building efficiency standards, automatic annual increases of 4 percent to vehicle fuel standards, and a "diverse energy standard" that encourages renewable energy, nuclear power, and carbon capture and storage at coal-burning electricity plants.
Those provisions are apt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than the energy bill offered by Bingaman that has a renewable electricity standard and fuel efficiency measures, said Claussen, who described Lugar's plan to phase out some old coal-fired power plants as a "good idea."
Looking at a collection of bills
Other ideas that will also be in play at the White House meeting come from legislation offered by Collins and Cantwell that would cap emissions, restrict allowance trading and rebate households, and from a bill by Alexander and Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) promoting electric car purchases and advanced battery research.
Obama distinctly moved away last week from the bill that has consumed the Senate's attention for the past several months, glancing by the Kerry-Lieberman measure that calls for an economywide carbon cap during his first Oval Office address.
|
