Posted on 11/26/2006 10:16:40 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - From the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to investment in stem-cell research, leaders of the new Democratic-controlled House and Senate say they will be looking to California as they set the agenda for the 110th Congress.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, incoming chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, already has called for the "California approach" to addressing global warming. And House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco is scheduled to speak Monday with the chairman of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.
"There's no question that they will use California as an example," congressional scholar Norman Ornstein said. "You've now got California moving right into the spotlight."
Boxer has vowed to incorporate portions of the Golden State's landmark laws, which aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25percent by 2020, into any national legislation she writes.
Hearings are being set for January. While Boxer has not yet finalized her list of witnesses, spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said the senator "wants to hear from a variety of voices on the issue" before introducing any legislation.
Among them, she said, will be the business community and state governments, including California. "She's so proud that her state has come forward and done a remarkable thing," Ravitz said.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, who has his own global-warming initiative to reduce emissions by 80percent below 1990 levels by 2050, said he intends to spotlight the steps California has taken.
"California has been the leader in dealing with greenhouse gas emissions and setting an example for what the U.S. should be doing," he said. "We'll certainly be citing the California example."
Meanwhile, Robert Klein, chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said he spoke with Pelosi before the Nov.7 election about her support for stem-cell research and has another discussion scheduled for the coming week.
In a House floor speech last year, Pelosi predicted that California - with its approval to spend $3billion over 10 years on embryonic stem-cell research - is destined to become "the regenerative capital of America, indeed probably the world."
The federal government, she argued then, should be following California's lead.
"This should be happening all over the country. It shouldn't depend on the local initiative of the state. It should be coming from the leadership of the federal government with the ethical standards that go with it," she said.
Klein noted that California has half of the nation's biotechnology research capacity. Since announcing the state's investment, 15 nations have sent scientific and diplomatic missions to California to learn more about the state's approach, he said.
"With Washington paralyzed, California has taken a very strong role," Klein said. "Speaker Pelosi is committed to really activating the stem-cell research for the country and looking to California as a model of what can be done."
Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said the speaker-to-be will continue to highlight the success that California has had in funding stem-cell research.
Some lawmakers and analysts, however, questioned whether emphasizing California's approach to issues could be a liability.
"In this town, there is this view that we in California are off in La La Land and not attached to reality," said Bruce Cain, director of the University of California's Washington Center. "California is not considered a good bellwether state."
"It could play good or bad," agreed Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, noting that he opposes many of the state's environmental regulations and thinks they are driving businesses out of California and into Nevada.
Congress, he said, "doesn't usually get in a big rush to do what California has done. There's division even within our own delegation."
Ornstein, however, predicted that Boxer in particular will have a secret weapon in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Now she has the Terminator to protect her. How he can win in the best Democratic year since 1974 in a very blue state - part of it is that he's been a strong environmentalist."
Ornstein said Republicans will try to show that what Boxer is doing is radical and out of the mainstream. But he said Schwarzenegger's backing "gives her a bit of protection against the reputation of being a kook."
Whether either of the measures has a chance of becoming law is another matter entirely.
"They're in a position to get these issues on the table," Cain said.
Currently, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is led by Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, who has called global warming a hoax. His future status as the leading Republican on the panel is being challenged by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., who has called for action on climate change.
President George W. Bush, nevertheless, is likely to veto any limit to greenhouse gas emissions that Congress manages to pass. Bush has said that such steps should be voluntary.
When it comes to stem-cell research, even supporters say they're many votes shy of being able to overturn a Bush veto.
In September, the president used his veto power for the first time to block Congress from loosening restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research funding, saying the bill crossed a moral boundary.
"I don't think they have the votes," said McKeon, one of 51 Republicans who voted for the measure in July. McKeon, who opposes abortion, said he supported it because the embryos slated for research would be destroyed anyway.
And, he said, with several members of his family having suffered from both Parkinson's disease and diabetes, "I see how devastating those illnesses are.
"If it can help one person, I think it will be worth it," he said of the research.
Ornstein said he also thinks Democrats don't have the votes yet to overturn a Bush veto on stem-cell research. But, he said, in the scheme of things, that may not matter.
"They certainly have the votes to pass it again and have the president veto it again. That's certainly good politics."
Too bad, it didn't have to be this way, the THird Way.
We are in a heap of trouble folks.
California the land of fruits and nuts is leading us all to a future of higher taxes, more jobs going overseas, higher gas prices.
For the record: I voted for the other guy!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Yup. CA is modeling what it's like to be a state that can't pay its debts, and Pelosi and company will make sure that the federal government follows its lead.
The ilk way brought us here by encouraging the defeat of all the 'less than perfect' republicans.
With your inestimable political knowledge, grunt, what do you know about the Third Way movement? Please share..
I have no reason to share anything with ilk. Ilk take honest opinions and stir them into division. Stop being an ilk and perhaps I'd be willing to share my opinions with you.
I sure hope this guy is around when I need serious medical attention. With three billion dollars to spend I should be able to have a private room and several compassionate nurses to soothe me.
You couldn't share anything if you had to, you're just like the Gub. a perfect pair.
You couldn't hold a straight discussion if you were paid to.. you have soiled your own linen, now lie in it.
Stop being an ilk and perhaps I'd be willing to share my opinions with you.
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You go from thread to thread, never discussing the actual topics and issues at hand, just tossing your same old cheap crap at folks you opine as less than worthy of reasonable discussion. nothing but a jerk, imo.
and thanks for stinking this thread up too. btw, it yet again shows what you are here for, running interference for the Progressive agenda, nothing more than a TWirP.
By that time there will be another GOP majority that they can blame it on.
There are only a handful of the ilk herd I opine as being fifth columnists. The honest extreme conservatives within the herd I leave alone, for the most part. The fifth columnist ilk, though, the rino hunters and others purposely encouraging republican defeat, they're going to continue to hear the same ol' cheap crap. Its simple to avoid it, don't repetitively post negative nonsense.
Would you care to take a poll as to who finds what is posted as what you bill as negative nonsense and who finds it useful in making up their own minds and not being fed the line by Progressive folks like you.. ?
No, I didn't think so..
Rino hunting ist verboten (/lockstep) eh, grunt? lolol
Thanks for showing the depth of your own deception, btw, and permanently part of the record. Priceless.
Normie, I want folks making up their own mind, not relying on the bullying tactics of the ilk herd.
And thank you for responding so frequently when fifth columnists are discussed, The other ilk must be extremely proud of you.
re: bullying tactics,, what do you call what you do?
I'm not a progressive
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quit acting like one.. think about it.
At best, exposing ilk for the fifth columnist disruptors they are. At worst, chastising counter-productive influences.
At best, exposing ilk for the fifth columnist disruptors they are. At worst, chastising counter-productive influences.
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and you claim some divine right to do so..
my, aren't you the high and mighty?
talk about being disrupted, in more ways than one.
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