DC Hill Update 3/15/10: Attacks on the Clean Air Act persist

This week, President Obama renewed his commitment to passing comprehensive climate and energy legislation by holding a White House meeting with top cabinet officials and key senators. At the same time, the "Dirty Air Act" initiatives in the House of Representatives continue to find support. Before the spring congressional recess begins March 28, health care reform is expected to be finished and Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman are expected to release substantial details about their long-awaited climate and energy bill.

1. Kerry-Graham-Lieberman in Full-Court Press for Support – Document expected before spring recess

President Obama hosted a meeting last week with top administration officials and a handful of key senators. Participants included Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, White House energy and climate adviser Carol Browner, White House economic adviser Larry Summers. Senators present included Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Judd Gregg (R-NH), John Kerry (D-MA), George LeMieux (R-FL), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

Most senators had positive things to say coming out of the meeting, with the exception of Lugar, who said he does not expect to support a climate bill this year and instead introduced a new energy bill that will prop up Big Oil and Dirty Coal, and do very little to promote clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

An enthusiastic Graham said, "I've come to conclude the energy-only approach will lead to mediocrity. There's not 60 votes doing energy only for offshore drilling. There's not 60 votes for nuclear power the way I'd like doing energy only. Only when you marry up climate change, cleaning up the air, with energy independence, do you get the transformational aspects of energy independence I'm hoping for." Lieberman also appeared optimistic: "I think if this group continues to work together, we can get something done on this, this year."

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), while expressing interest in the forthcoming legislation, submitted a letter to Kerry last week requesting that the bill not regulate emissions from industrial plants for at least ten years. It appears that the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman trio is open to including several provisions to protect the manufacturing sector (subs. req'd) which have been requested by senators like Levin, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Brown.

As of last week, the trio was aiming to release a draft bill, or at least a summary document, before the two-week spring recess begins March 28 (subs. req'd), although Kerry said on Friday that might not be possible.

Last Thursday, the White House predicted that there will be new enthusiasm for U.S. climate legislation once gas prices begin to rise this summer.

A new Gallup poll released last week shows that the number of Americans who think the science of climate change is exaggerated has grown significantly over the last two years. Joe Romm at Climate Progress points out that this trend reveals a strong partisan divide on climate science, and it has been driven by a well-funded, polluter-driven misinformation campaign.

Members of the House of Representatives who worked to pass a climate bill last year appear to be getting anxious for the Senate to finish the job. In an interview last week with Brad Johnson at Think Progress, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) urged members of Congress to "just get over their fear" and support the comprehensive climate and energy legislation we so badly need. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), one of the authors of the House-passed ACES bill, penned a piece for The Huffington Post last week to highlight many of the types of clean energy jobs created by the Recovery Act.

2. Cantwell and Collins Continue to Seek Support for the CLEAR Act, a Cap and Dividend bill

Senators Cantwell and Collins remain engaged in negotiations with other senators and continue to promote their CLEAR Act, which has received several prominent endorsements recently in the media, including the Economist. 1Sky met with staff in Senator Cantwell’s office and completed an analysis of the CLEAR Act (PDF), highlighting the bill's strengths and areas for improvement. 1Sky also wrote a letter urging Senators Cantwell, Collins, Kerry, Graham and Lieberman to combine the best aspects of their respective bills to create one piece of strong legislation that will pass this year.

Last week the AARP announced its support for the Cantwell-Collins bill.

3. Dirty Air Act

The various Dirty Air Act proposals continue to gain support in the House of Representatives with 25 Democrats now supporting at least one of the many initiatives. Even nine representatives who voted for the House-passed climate bill last year – such as Reps. Zach Space (D-OH) and Steve Kagen (D-WI) – are now supporting efforts to gut the Clean Air Act. 1Sky takes these attacks very seriously and will be visiting district offices of key House members in the coming weeks to demand that they stand firmly in defense of the Clean Air Act.

Sen. Murkowski said last Thursday that she may put her Senate Dirty Air Act proposal on hold while she waits to see what happens with the new proposal introduced by Sen. Rockefeller.

Last Thursday, five western Democrats, including Representatives Gene Green (D-TX), Joe Baca (D-CA), and Harry Teague (D-NM (all of whom voted 'yes' on the House passed ACES bill), sent a letter to President Obama requesting that the administration not regulate big polluters under the Clean Air Act (subs req'd).

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said last Wednesday that he is considering becoming the first co-sponsor of Rockefeller's Dirty Air Act proposal, but has not firmly made up his mind. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) said definitively last week that he will not join his fellow Alaskan in attacking the Clean Air Act and will instead oppose both the Murkowski resolution and the new Rockefeller initiative.

4. Health Care Reform

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is working hard to secure votes for a final health care vote that will take place this week. Pelosi vowed on Friday that the House would stay in session until an up-or-down vote was held.

Speaking Sunday on ABC's "This Week" Sen. Graham threatened that passing health care reform using the reconciliation process (subs. requ'd) could "poison the well for anything else [the Obama Administration] would like to achieve this year or thereafter."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced definitively last Thursday that Democrats will use the reconciliation process (which requires only 51 votes rather than 60) to pass final changes to a health care reform proposal after the original Senate bill passes through the House and the House passes a separate package with some fixes.

With Congress still poised to finish health care before the spring recess, 1Sky is gearing up to create renewed momentum for climate legislation this spring.

5. India and China sign Copenhagen Accord

Last Tuesday, China and India became the last major economies to formally "sign on" to the Copenhagen Accord.

Prepared by Jason Kowalski and Julie Erickson from 1Sky’s policy team. Please direct questions or comments to jason@1sky.org.