If Kerry-Graham Bill Passes Senate, Would House Bill Have Any Sway in Conference? By Darren Samuelsohn, ClimateWire, April 20, 2010. "A carefully crafted compromise on climate change that narrowly passed in the House last June has been stuck for almost a year in the Senate. Now, with three senators set to unveil their own bill Monday and a floor vote possible this spring or early summer, House lawmakers are wondering whether there will be a significant effort to negotiate major differences between the two proposals or if they will be asked to simply approve the Senate version. There is no guarantee that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) can even notch 60 votes to pass such a sweeping measure during a midterm election year. But if he does, some House Democrats say they would not be surprised if they were asked to buckle in conference negotiations.
"Several major differences are expected between the House and Senate bills, such as a carbon pricing system that deals with various sectors of the economy in different ways, rather than the House's all-inclusive approach. A scaled-back carbon-pricing plan opens the door to lawmakers close to the major oil companies, which originally came up with the idea as a way to avoid being included in a large, economy-wide cap-and-trade system. The Senate bill is also expected to include language to promote offshore oil and gas drilling, and help with the expansion of nuclear power... House Republicans... [predict that even] Reid does pull it off... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would delay the final conference negotiations until after midterm elections to avoid forcing her members to take what has already been dubbed a politically difficult vote."
No comments:
Post a Comment