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Home Front: Culture Wars
Senate to Control Greenhouse Gas
2009-09-28
Senate Democrats will unveil legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions next Wednesday, kicking off what is likely to be a battle in Congress as lawmakers tussle over the economic impact of controlling global warming. The bill has not been released formally but will be coauthored by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and California Senator Barbara Boxer, a Congressional source said on Thursday.

"The overall architecture of the Senate bill is going to be very similar to the House version of the bill," a separate source at an environmental group said via telephone from the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Another source said the Senators are contemplating requiring a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2020.

Any climate legislation in the Senate likely faces an uphill battle, as lawmakers from heavy industrial states in both parties have raised concerns about burdening companies with additional energy costs. Republicans, a dying breed in indusrtrial states in particular, have characterized so-called cap and trade legislation as a massive energy tax that will kill jobs and dampen economic recovery.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he hopes to bring this legislation to the floor for a vote by the end of this year. He has also said he plans to combine the bill, with a comprehensive energy package that was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this year.
Posted by:Bobby

#12  Uh, uh, BLUE VELVET - you all know whom, and you know what device I'm trying hard NOT to describe???

Sexy slinky ISABELLA ROSSELLINI notwithstanding.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2009-09-28 23:50  

#11  Darn, I was hoping they would render themselves carbon neutral.
Posted by: DarthVader   2009-09-28 22:05  

#10  Won't they turn blue?
Posted by: DMFD   2009-09-28 19:14  

#9  
Yamal: A "Divergence" Problem

Taxing a positive externality (plat-food production) = disaster.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2009-09-28 18:28  

#8  ...WITH THEIR MINDS!
Posted by: mojo   2009-09-28 17:49  

#7  Kerry wants to change the Cap and Tax Bill name

Kerry last week sought to change the vernacular surrounding the climate bill and sell its concepts more broadly, insisting it is not a "cap and trade" proposal but a "pollution reduction" bill. "I don't know what 'cap and trade' means. I don't think the average American does," Kerry said. "This is not a cap-and-trade bill, it's a pollution reduction bill" (E&E Daily, Sept. 25).

But a leading GOP opponent to the Senate climate effort quickly pushed back on the Democrat's strategy.

"No matter the semantic games employed, or the extent to which Democrats wish to hide the truth from the American people, cap and trade will mean more job losses, more pain at the pump, and higher food and electricity prices for consumers," said EPW Committee ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.)."

Both Brown and Stabenow said they would welcome the release of the Senate bill even though it will give critics something tangible to target.

"It always does," Brown said. "There is always something to shoot at. But I think it is the right step, and then we start working to improve it."

Senate Democratic leaders, including Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), have said that they do not know if there will be enough time to get to the climate bill on the floor this year. But Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the lead authors of the House bill, said that he is not giving up yet.

"At this stage in the House no one was predicting we could be successful," Markey told reporters. The lawmaker said he expected the Senate to closely follow the House bill's outlines, especially "once people sit down and begin to understand we have dealt with the major interests in the country.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2009-09-28 15:15  

#6  When I read the title I thought that it was about frijoles (aka beans) would be banned from Senate's canteens.
Posted by: JFM   2009-09-28 14:35  

#5  they can buy priuses to use instead of their business jets.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2009-09-28 14:30  

#4  I don't know which is worse the EPA or Congress.
Posted by: bman   2009-09-28 13:05  

#3  They should stick a DC plug up their poop chutes...
Posted by: crazyhorse   2009-09-28 12:33  

#2  What? You mean they're gonna shut their mouths?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2009-09-28 11:36  

#1  Congressional Dems seem to be in a sucide pact with Obama.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon   2009-09-28 11:33  

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