Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 11/13/2009 9:33:41 AM PST by jazusamo
An aggressive White House push on jobs and deficit reduction in 2010 may be yet another sign that climate-change legislation will stay on the back burner next year.
“There is a growing chorus in the party that thinks we should be doing more to spur job creation and not necessarily tackle cap and trade right now,” said a moderate Democratic Senate aide.
White House officials told POLITICO on Friday that President Barack Obama plans curb new domestic spending beyond jobs programs and focus on cutting the federal deficit next year.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid has hinted that Democrats plan to take up a job-creation bill, in the wake of the announcement of a 10.2 percent unemployment rate. In the House, some lawmakers are beginning to push a major highway bill for next year to focus on job creation.
None of this is promising for a major climate change bill.
The focus on deficit reduction and jobs may allow coal and manufacturing state Democrats to continue their pushback on climate change legislation, warning that the bill could raise energy prices and hurt job growth in their region. Opponents of the legislation also jumped on October testimony by Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf that the House climate bill would slightly slow economic growth and lead to "significant" job losses from fossil fuel industries.
Moderate Democrats have argued that the Senate should pass a jobs bill instead of cap and trade in closed door caucus meetings, according to Democratic aides.
“While we must always be mindful of the cost of legislation, that's particularly true in today's economy,” said Finance committee Max Baucus at a hearing this week.
Baucus was the only Democrat to vote against the climate change legislation in the Environment and Public Works committee, but says he is committed to passing “balanced” climate change legislation that includes lower short-term targets for greenhouse gas reductions.
Other moderate Democrats have pushed Reid to take up a “climate light” bill that focuses only on energy provisions included in the legislation – leaving the cap and trade provisions to be dealt with after the economy recovers.
The Energy and Natural Resources committee passed an energy bill with bipartisan backing in June. Dorgan and other say the vote signaled that a package including renewable fuels mandates, energy-efficiency measures, and increased domestic exploration could attract significant Republican support.
“Good policy is going to be left behind by the insistence that the climate change bill has to be done first or together,” warned Sen. Byron Dorgan, (D-N.D.).
Obama and Democratic supporters of the bill have repeatedly said that legislation would create millions of new green jobs by providing incentives for businesses to invest in green technologies.
They also note that the Senate bill sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, (D-Mass.), and Barbara Boxer, (D-Calif.) is deficit neutral, largely due to a Senate rule that prohibits major bills from adding $5 billion to the federal deficit in any of the five decades following its enactment.
“There’s just no credible way to turn these deficit-neutral bills into definitively-negative decisions for our country, especially since energy remains a top priority for the Obama administration and for the American people,” said a House Democratic aide close to the bill.
Aides say that legislation currently being drafted by Sen. Lindsey Graham, John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) will also be deficit neutral and focus on economic growth.
“If environmental policy is not good business policy, you'll never get 60 votes,” said Graham. “So my goal is to try to make sure that we fashion environmental policy that will create millions of new jobs for Americans who are desiring to have new jobs.”
this just means it’s time for Algore to jump on a borrowed G-5 and fly around screaming like chicken little to all the MSNBC shows that will have him.
algore can take Kerry and Graham with him, they can’t do damage in the Senate while away.
This morning's announcement on KSH being brought to NY for trial was a pre-emptive attempt to placate them. It did not work. They were on Pacifica bright and early whining about the 75 who remain at Gitmo. Barry is about to find that his rabid base will leave him NO room for political maneuvering.
It’ll be enjoyable watching his rabid base and union thugs rip into him for not being able to satisfy their many impossible demands. Each half measure he takes will lose radicals as well as moderates for going too far.
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