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Home Front: Politix
Global Warming bill shaky
2009-06-26
Former Vice President Al Gore canceled plans to fly to Washington for a news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, and instead was working the phones from Tennessee to help push a landmark climate bill to passage.

Friday's vote on the measure is expected to be close, but multiple sources on both sides of the aisle say they're confident that the bill will pass -- with some Republican votes -- following a deal between House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson.

"It's a question of what was energy efficient for the vice president," Pelosi said of the decision to keep Gore in Tennessee. "We were narrowing the list of the undecideds. We had a great narrowing of the undecideds." The speaker, President Barack Obama and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel were all telephoning undecided or wavering House members in both parties.

As part of their efforts, Obama added a last-minute Rose Garden Thursday, where he predicted that the vote on the bill would be close. To those members of Congress who are undecided, he said: "We've been talking about this issue for decades, now is the time to act."

The American Clean Energy and Security Act, better known as the Waxman-Markey bill, would cut greenhouse-gas while promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. The measure, which is likely to have a tough go in the Senate, is a linchpin of Obama's first-year agenda. A victory would give the White House momentum going into a vote on health care later this summer.
What would a defeat give?
The speaker's office sent this notification to reporters Thursday morning: "As the list of undecided Members narrowed, the Speaker thought it was unnecessary to impose on the Vice President's schedule to travel to Washington, and instead to continue coordinating efforts from Tennessee," spokesman Drew Hammill said in an e-mail. Gore, who was coming at the invitation of the speaker, was going to make the case for strong action one of the president's top priorities -- energy and global warming -- without delay. He supports the House bill as the way to cut pollution, make dramatic increases in using energy efficiently, and increase use of renewable energy, which will boost jobs and improve our national security.

Earlier this week, Gore held a conference call to mobilize more than 10,000 of his Repower America grassroots activists.
And were they mobilized? The article doesn't say anything about lawmakers getting 10,000 calls, letters and emails supporting this bill.
Posted by:gorb

#14  My congresscritter, NutLoebsack, voted for it. Big shocka there, especially since the little weasel who answered the phone in his office refused to say how he voted. The university twits are gonna be so happy...until the heating bills come in.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie   2009-06-26 22:50  

#13  Look for electric bills to double and everything else to go up less. Basically a trillion dollar/year anchor on the American economy.
Posted by: ed   2009-06-26 20:25  

#12  Blue Staters all! No surprises here. Food stamps cash-for-clunkers, natural gas, electricity, and heating oil vouchers for the "poor and needy" ... here they come!
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-06-26 20:08  

#11  the traitors are named:
Bono Mack
Castle
Kirk
Lance
LoBiondo
McHugh
Reichert
Smith (NJ)
Posted by: Frank G   2009-06-26 19:39  

#10  apparently, it passed 219-212 with eight GOPers voting for it. Malkin is hunting down their names, addresses, emails, license plates...etc.

A monumental bill that none of these idiots even READ should be qualifications for removal, tar and feathering, and loss of pension
Posted by: Frank G   2009-06-26 19:38  

#9  Any bill on global warming is going to be shaky because the concept of global warming is shaky.
Posted by: JohnQC   2009-06-26 16:41  

#8  So, how about taxing Congress for their windfall profits.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2009-06-26 16:33  

#7  Energy and climate-change bill narrowly wins a test vote in House
Posted by: tipper   2009-06-26 15:16  

#6  Â“Former Vice President Al Gore canceled plans to fly to Washington for a news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday…”

Ha…Waxman and Pelosi caved at the last minute and offered an enticement bribe to Democrats from Timber producing districts. (Upper NW) Over strong objections, from none other then Al Gore, they are allowing “Biomass” to be defined as a renewable energy source. According to Gore, the use of Biomass will only “encourage unsustainable logging in federal forests to meet demand for biomass power plants.” Not to mention this decision really throws the promises of CO2 reduction benefits, as envisioned in this bill, into a tailspin. The MSM narrative was Al politely declined his invitation so as not to upstage Obama. However, reality suggests Gore was home pouting.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2009-06-26 13:23  

#5  I wonder if Gore was asked to stay home because Obama didn't a cold snap to hit the DC area on the day of the House vote?
Posted by: tipover   2009-06-26 11:12  

#4  So what I want to know, how many of our supposed 'leaders' in the House/Senate/Administration that are trying to ram this POS through, are personally invested in the "GoreCap" trading firms or markets?
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2009-06-26 10:59  

#3  Â“Â…following a deal between House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson.”

The Climate Change Boondoggle has been in the works for years and as recently as last week even the proponents couldn’t agree on the validity of their “facts” and figures. Now Rep. Peterson, in the 11th hour, was able to get both the agriculture and forestry industries exempt from the definition of a “capped sector”. Yet, according to the EPA, the agricultural sector alone was responsible for 6 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. So one would assume those exemptions would substantially alter Waxman’s previous calculations. Don’t worry…you can bet thier “deal” has it all worked out.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2009-06-26 10:48  

#2  At this point the bill is so full of special interest provisions, so full of arcane language, so full of exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions, so full of contingencies and required reports and required studies that it should be an embarrassment to the authors. Yesterday, the Wapo, essentially came out against it on these grounds.

Bring it on.
Posted by: Lord garth   2009-06-26 08:19  

#1  If the bill passes, does Gore go away?
Posted by: Bobby   2009-06-26 06:01  

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