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Democrats Call Off Effort For Climate Bill in Senate
2010-07-23 07:59:18.611 GMT
By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN; John M. Broder
contributed reporting.
July 23 (New York Times) -- WASHINGTON -- The effort to
advance a major climate change bill through the Senate this
summer collapsed Thursday even as President Obama signed into law
another top Democratic priority -- a bill to restore unemployment
benefits for millions of Americans who have been out of work for
six months or more.
Bowing to political reality, Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada
Democrat and majority leader, said the Senate would not take up
legislation intended to reduce carbon emissions blamed as a cause
of climate change, but would instead pursue a more limited
measure focused on responding to the oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico and tightening energy efficiency standards.
"We know where we are," Mr. Reid told reporters after
reviewing the state of energy legislation with Senate Democrats
and administration officials. "We know that we don't have the
votes."
The decision was a major disappointment to conservation
groups and lawmakers who had invested months in trying to
negotiate legislation. The House last year passed its own climate
change bill, a proposal that has created a backlash for some
politically vulnerable Democrats. The outcome was also viewed as
a setback by some utility executives who had hoped that Congress
would set predictable rules governing carbon pollution.
Carol M. Browner, director of the White House Office of
Energy and Climate Change Policy, who appeared with Mr. Reid and
Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who is a chief
author of the climate bill, said the Obama administration was not
happy but would support Mr. Reid's decision.
"Obviously, everyone is disappointed that we do not yet have
an agreement on comprehensive legislation," she said.
Congressional and White House officials said the decision
was a pragmatic move that could produce some legislation rather
than bogging down the Senate over a bill that had no chance given
strong opposition from most Republicans and some Democrats. They
noted that the White House had acted on its own to raise fuel
efficiency standards and had pushed the development of
alternative fuels.
Democrats said the slimmer package would ensure that BP
would pay for the cleanup of the gulf oil spill, and would
promote further production of natural gas as well as the
manufacturing of natural gas vehicles, especially big trucks.
They said it would also tighten household energy efficiency
requirements and increase financing of the Land and Water
Conservation Fund.
But even the Senate's ability to pass a bill with
significant bipartisan elements before its scheduled August
recess was in doubt given the intense focus on the November
elections.
Separately on Thursday night the Senate rejected a House
version of an emergency spending bill that also contained
billions of dollars for domestic programs, including $10 billion
to help states and local school districts avert teacher layoffs.
Instead the Senate sent the House a version focused mainly on
financing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While Senate Democrats revised their energy plans, the House
voted 272 to 152 to send Mr. Obama a $34 billion six-month
extension of unemployment pay for Americans who had exhausted
their standard 26 weeks of aid. Signing the measure hours later,
Mr. Obama said it would "restore desperately needed assistance to
two and a half million Americans who lost their jobs in the
recession."
The bill had been the subject of a partisan battle, with
Democrats saying that the economic crisis was an emergency that
justified deficit spending, while Republicans argued that the
cost should not be added to the deficit.
"We want to help those who are struggling with the current
economic slowdown," said Representative Charles Boustany Jr., a
Louisiana Republican. "But we also agree with the American people
that new spending must be paid for."
In the final vote, 31 Republicans joined 241 Democrats in
supporting the measure. Voting against it were 142 Republicans
and 10 Democrats.
Democrats called the Republican opposition shameful given
the financial struggles of many families. The bill had been
stalled since late May, and advanced in the Senate this week only
with the arrival of a new Democratic senator to succeed the late
Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
"It shouldn't have been so hard," said the House speaker,
Nancy Pelosi of California.
-0- Jul/23/2010 07:59 GMT
