Cap-and-Trade

Voinovich Gets Emotional During Republican Climate Change Boycott

Brian Beutler | November 4, 2009, 4:32PM

The Republican boycott of Senate climate change legislation continues today. But yesterday, Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), whose objections sparked the boycott, insisted, in a tense, almost tearful moment, that his concerns were sincere, and implored Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)--chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee--to humor him.

Voinovich himself sounds pretty earnest. But at the same time, It's hard to fault Boxer, who, after years worth of hearings on the issue, knows that all the additional EPA studies and GOP placating in the world won't win her a single minority vote in committee. So why not move ahead?

Climate Change

Business Leaders Plan D.C. Visit to Press Swift Action on Climate Change

Brian Beutler | October 5, 2009, 9:03AM

Executives from some of the nation's most powerful corporations will visit Washington, D.C. this week to press Congress to act swiftly on far-reaching climate change legislation.

The groups, working under the umbrella of the campaign We Can Lead, will meet Wednesday and Thursday for training sessions, briefings, and advocacy on the Hill in support of the House's Waxman-Markey climate change bill and similar legislation.

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Barack Obama

TPMDC Morning Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | August 17, 2009, 9:01AM

Public Option May Be Dropped
The Obama administration appears to be getting closer to dropping the public option as a proposal, shifting to a co-op plan with a better chance of passing. "The president is going to continue to try to persuade everyone of the great value of having a true public plan," an unnamed Democrat close to the White House told the New York Times. "But at the end of the day, I believe he recognizes that there are other, arguably less effective, ways to achieve greater coverage, more choice, better quality and lower cost in our system."

Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will deliver remarks at the VFW National Convention in Phoenix, at 2 p.m. ET. He and the First Lady will depart from Phoenix at 3:20 p.m. ET, and arrive back at the White House at 7:35 p.m. ET.

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Barack Obama

TPMDC Morning Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | May 25, 2009, 8:59AM

Obama: North Korea "Recklessly Challenging The International Community"
President Obama released a statement at about 2 a.m. ET, on North Korea's claimed nuclear test. "By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," Obama said. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea's isolation. It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery."

Obama's Day Ahead: Memorial Day Observance
President Obama is having breakfast with Gold Star Families this morning, at 9 a.m. ET in the State Dining Room. At 11 a.m. ET, he will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He will speak at 11:15 a.m. ET, from the Memorial Amphitheater.

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Climate Change

Speed Reading Clerk Reads Stalling Amendment To House Climate Change Legislation

Brian Beutler | May 21, 2009, 4:42PM

Earlier today, we reported that Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have taken an extraordinary measure to combat nefarious Republican stall tactics. Faced with the possibility that the GOP minority might require the committee's clerks to read aloud the 900-page Waxman-Markey climate change bill, or many of its 400-plus proposed amendments, the committee's chairman, Henry Waxman (D-CA), hired a speed reader. A quick tongued, acting-clerk, if you will.

His services may ultimately not be necessary, but earlier today, to break the tension between battling factions, the committee's ranking member Joe Barton (R-TX) asked the "speed reader clerk" to read part of one measly little amendment. Watch:

That amendment ultimately went down in flames. The overall bill may have gained a little bit of steam today. But presumably a bunch of Capitol Hill clerks are now worried about job security.

Health Care

The Mark-Up, 05-19-2009

Brian Beutler | May 19, 2009, 4:20PM

TPMDC's daily update on the biggest legislative initiatives on the Hill:

• Credit Card Reform:The Senate passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act today by an overwhelming vote of 90-5. The roll call is here. The legislation lacks some key progressive provisions, such as a cap on interest rates, but has nonetheless received plaudits from the progressive Campaign for America's Future.
• Climate Change: After hitting some early snags, the markup process for the Waxman-Markey energy bill begins in earnest today. Republicans opted not to invoke a delay tactic that would have required the entire 946 page bill to be read aloud before the committee proceeded to debate, but they do plan to offer up to 449 amendments to the bill, which should make this a grueling week for the Energy and Commerce Committee
• Health Care: According to Jon Cohn, forthcoming estimates from the Congressional Budget office will suggest that comprehensive health reform won't cost as much as some observers expected. That's good news for the prospects of passing legislation--but, as a package released today by the Senate Finance Committee shows, coming up with the money won't be all that easy.

John McCain

Goldfarb: My McCain-Campaign Colleague Is A 'Tree-Hugger, Dead To Me'

Brian Beutler | May 11, 2009, 4:51PM

Earlier today, Ben Smith reported that McCain research director-cum-press secretary Brian Rogers will begin working as the research director for Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection. On the campaign trail, Rogers worked alongside deputy communications director Michael Goldfarb, who responded to today's announcement with poise and professional courtesy. "Everybody knew Rogers was a tree-hugger," Goldfarb noted by email, "but I didn't think he'd take it this far. He's dead to me."

This has been today's edition of "fun quotes from people who wanted to run the country." But thinking critically for a moment it's not clear how accurate Goldfarb's charges are. Notwithstanding all the 'Drill Here, Drill Now' strangeness, McCain--though nowhere near Al Gore territory--has generally been more progressive on the climate change issue than has the rest of his party. So on the one hand it's not all that surprising that he'd have an environmentalist on his staff.

On the other hand, though, this is the same Brian Rogers who, in an earlier edition of "fun quotes from people who wanted to run the country" once said of Barack Obama, "In terms of who's an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story." Tree-huggers are traditionally believed to enjoy arugula as much as pointy-headed professors, and there is, of course, significant overlap between the two groups. Perhaps he's super green after all.

Climate Change

Climate Change Amendment Stricken From Budget

Brian Beutler | April 29, 2009, 1:25PM

This is a little bit deep in the weeds, but you may recall that back in early April when the Senate was debating the budget, Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduced an amendment meant to prevent the Senate from passing climate change legislation through the reconciliation process, and it passed by a wide margin.

Well, in conference, that amendment was stripped out completely. Mike Johanns is very unhappy. But that doesn't mean that a cap-and-trade program will absolutely be established during the reconciliation process. And it doesn't mean that Democrats will be hanging the threat over Republicans' heads the way they are with health reform. In fact, the conference report basically says this won't happen. But technically there won't be anything (other than Senate politics) stopping Democrats from doing so.

Environment

Waxman Forced To Delay Action On Climate Bill

Brian Beutler | April 27, 2009, 6:31PM

We noted earlier that MoveOn.org is raising money to fund an ad campaign targeting conservative House Democrats who might stand athwart the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, still in its infancy.

Well they may want to ramp things up a bit. The bill was scheduled to be marked up this week, but Waxman just delayed further action until next week, citing "productive discussions between members". According to the Wall Street Journal, "[t]he delay indicates that the House Democratic leadership is having difficulty rounding up votes to move the bill forward, amid disagreements over which industries and regions of the country should bear the burden for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions."

Democrats from industrial and coal-dependent states have expressed concerns that the climate bill would sharply raise energy costs and hurt the economy in their states.

If you thought the stimulus was a slog, and think health reform will be harder still, just wait for the climate change wars.

Barack Obama

TPMDC Morning Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | April 22, 2009, 9:00AM

Senate Confirms Christopher Hill As Ambassador To Iraq
The Senate last night confirmed Christopher Hill to be President Obama's Ambassador to Iraq. The nomination had previously been delayed by some Republican Senators, including John McCain and Sam Brownback, but Hill was finally able to win confirmation on a 73-23 vote.

Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama is traveling to Iowa for Earth Day today, accompanied by former governor and current Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack. He will depart the White House at 9:45 a.m. ET, and take off from Andrews Air Force Base at 10 a.m. ET. He will arrive in Des Moines at 12:15 p.m. ET, and will tour the Trinity Structural Towers Manufacturing Plant, which makes wind-energy towers, at 1:20 p.m. ET. At 2 p.m. ET, Obama will deliver remarks on his energy plan, laying out a strategy focused on clean energy. He will leave Des Moines at 3:15 p.m. ET, and is scheduled to arrive back at the White House at 6:30 p.m. ET.

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Environment

Greenpeace: Waxman-Markey Climate Bill Not Strong Enough

Elana Schor | March 31, 2009, 1:40PM

The climate change draft bill released today by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) goes further than the White House in terms of its emissions targets -- but the plan also tacks right in some notable ways, as Greenpeace is noting in its newly released response.

Steven Biel, director of Greenpeace's U.S. global warming campaign, raised questions about two elements of the Waxman-Markey plan and called for it to be "strengthened" by Congress.

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Environment

Waxman to Unveil Climate Change Bill Today, Going Further Than Obama

Elana Schor | March 31, 2009, 10:50AM

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) are rolling out their proposal to cut carbon emissions today, and early leaks of the plan suggest that the duo is prepared to ensure that the Obama administration is not the most liberal player in the climate change debate.

Waxman and Markey's bill will set targets of a 20% reduction in emissions by 2020, compared with Obama's proposed 15% cut, and an 83% reduction by 2050, a more ambitious goal than Obama's planned 80% trimming. This is more than just a numbers game: By moving the goalposts further left than the White House, the two House Democrats set the stage for a meaningful compromise on climate change ... but can it happen this year?

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Barack Obama

Top Obama Enviro Nominee Pulls Out Amid 'Scrutiny' of His Work With Scandal-Plagued Non-Profit

Elana Schor | March 25, 2009, 4:54PM

Jon Cannon, President Obama's nominee to become deputy chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, withdrew from consideration today with a veiled reference to "scrutiny" of his association with America's Clean Water Foundation (ACWF) -- a group that the EPA inspector general cited in 2007 for steering federal grant money to the livestock industry.

ACWF has not made the news or attracted congressional criticism for any recent misdeeds. In fact, its attorneys told the EPA in 2006 that the entire group had abruptly dissolved, disappearing into thin air as the inspector general advised the government to claw back more than $21 million in federal grant money that had gone from ACWF into the hands of the National Pork Producer Council.

What did Cannon have to do with that shady move on ACWF's part? Nothing, according to his statement, released today through EPA:

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Republicans

GOPers Re-Name Climate Change Bill -- Now It's An 'Energy Tax'!

Elana Schor | March 20, 2009, 3:36PM

TPMDC has reported on how indignant Republicans are that Democrats are considering filibuster-proofing the coming climate change bill by making it part of the budget -- remember, 25 GOPers signed a letter nixing that option last week -- but the GOPers on the Senate environment committee are taking it to a new level.

In a letter to their fellow senators today, the environment panel's Republicans throw every rhetorical weapon in their arsenal at the Obama administration for putting revenues from carbon regulation in its budget. What they're afraid of is what the energy industry has called the "nuclear option," a budget item for climate change that would fast-track the bill to passage.

And to help strangle that option, the Republicans have renamed cap-and-trade emissions limits. They're now being christened an "energy tax," which creates a nice opening to slam Democrats as tax-hikers. Read the full letter after the jump, and fear the ominous "energy tax" ...

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Environment

Beyond the Stimulus: Congress Lays Down Mass Transit Markers

Elana Schor | March 19, 2009, 3:36PM

During the debate over mass-transit funding in the stimulus bill, TPMDC highlighted the puzzling disconnect between the Obama administration's calls for investment in sustainable transportation and its low level of actual money to modernize the system.

Now that modernization debate has moved into its next phase, with Congress poised to take up its five-year transportation authorization bill later this spring. The prospect of kick-starting a true greening of U.S. transportation policy has prompted lawmakers to introduce two bills that form a progressive marker for that coming debate.

The first is known as Complete Streets, offered last week by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA). It would ensure that federal transportation spending is apportioned to benefit not only auto drivers but pedestrians and bike riders as well. Complete Streets initiatives have been launched at the state and local level in Minnesota, New York, Washington, California, and elsewhere.

The second green-transit marker bill, known as CLEAN TEA, highlights a growing schism over the distribution of revenue from a possible cap-and-trade climate change regulatory system. CLEAN TEA would ensure that 10% of the revenue from auction of carbon emissions permits goes toward green transportation projects.

The Obama administration has suggested that as much as 20% of auction proceeds could go towards green transit, but Republicans are mounting an early pushback to that effort by insisting that 100% of the proceeds from the system be given back to taxpayers. Look for this question to become a flashpoint during the climate change debate, if and when it finally occurs later this year.

Anonymous Holds

Environmental Groups Send Letter to the Hill on Holdren & Lubchenco

Elana Schor | March 13, 2009, 1:57PM

We reported yesterday on the abrupt resolution of the Senate holds that had snagged John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco, President Obama's nominees to lead the White House science office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, respectively.

Now that the nominees have been affirmatively sent to the Senate floor, their path to confirmation looks clear -- although the names and party affiliations of the senators holding them up remains murky. We're going to keep sniffing around to try to unmask the anonymous objectors.

But in the meantime, after the jump you can check out a letter on the nominations that was sent to the Senate today by 20 leading environmental groups (h/t Politico).

Read more »

Environment

Eight Dem Senators Defend the Right to Filibuster Climate Change

Elana Schor | March 13, 2009, 11:45AM

When President Obama submitted a budget that predicted passage of a revenue-raising climate change bill, hopes rose that Congress could successfully rein in carbon emissions this year.

But a cap-and-trade climate bill is almost certain to be filibustered by Republicans -- and in a letter delivered to the Senate Budget Committee yesterday, eight Democratic senators joined 25 Republicans to defend the GOP's right to set a 60-vote margin for passing emissions limits.

"We oppose using the budget process to expedite passage of climate legislation," the senators, including eight centrist Democrats, wrote in their missive.

Using the procedure of budget reconciliation, which would allow a climate change measure to become law with 50 votes while preventing filibusters, "would circumvent normal Senate practice and would be inconsistent with the administration's goals of bipartisanship, cooperation, and openness," the 33 senators wrote.

Budget reconciliation was used by George W. Bush and congressional Republicans to prevent Democrats from stalling both the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. The opposition of nearly one-half of the Senate, however, means that President Obama's party will have little room to use the tactic as successfully as Bush's supporters did.

Filibuster-proofing the upcoming health care reform bill through reconciliation already has been ruled out strongly discouraged* by pivotal Democratic senators on the Finance Committee, Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

Democrats' reluctance to take advantage of their procedural arsenal to pass climate change and health care this year doesn't mean that both pieces of legislation would necessarily fall to filibusters. But it does mean that Republicans will have significantly more opportunities to insert pro-business provisions into these pivotal bills.

Late Update: The eight Democratic senators who signed on to the letter are Robert Byrd (WV), Blanche Lincoln (AR), Ben Nelson (NE), Evan Bayh (IN), Mark Pryor (AR), Bob Casey (PA), Carl Levin (MI), and Mary Landrieu (LA).

*Late Late Update: Baucus has not ruled out reconciliation entirely. As he told the Kaiser Family Foundation last week, "I am doing whatever I can to avoid reconciliation [on health care] and don't take it off the table totally, because it is a backup.

Environment

Holds Lifted, Holdren & Lubchenco Cleared ... A Second Time?

Elana Schor | March 12, 2009, 6:07PM

It seems that the mystery of the holds on two of President Obama's senior science advisers has been solved.

All attempts to delay John Holdren, nominated to lead the White House science and technology office, and Jane Lubchenco, nominated to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, were lifted this afternoon after a closed-door meeting of the Senate Commerce Committee, according to Greenwire.

Why the Commerce panel needed to vote on Holdren and Lubchenco again after affirming them once last month remains unknown, as do the identities of the holders whom we've been working to unmask.

Greenwire reports that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the senior GOPer on Commerce, pointed a finger at Democrats for slowing the nominees to win concessions on other issues. Hutchison told me earlier this week that she was unaware of any objections -- we'll let you know more as soon as we know.

Late Update: Here's why the committee had to meet again this afternoon ... CQ's original report that stated Holdren & Lubchenco were "approved" last month was incorrect. The nominees were actually "discharged," which in Senate parlance means that they were quickly cleared without the panel voting.

That seems to have made the duo a magnet for senatorial objections -- the source of which remains murky, even to folks in the Senate. Now that the committee has met again to give the official stamp of approval to Holdren & Lubchenco, however, they can be moved towards unanimous approval without further shenanigans.

Environment

Stabenow Opposes the One-Bill Strategy on Energy & Environment

Elana Schor | March 12, 2009, 3:38PM

Senate Democrats are facing a stark choice on climate change and energy this year, as I reported on Monday. The House looks poised to move ahead with one piece of legislation that strengthens clean-energy standards while tackling climate change, both issues under the jurisdiction of Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) Energy and Commerce Committee.

The question facing the Senate, then, is whether they follow suit and shoot the moon with one bill, not two, on energy and climate change. Could trying to solve two problems at once help sway some of the swing votes on both issues?

One of those swing votes, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), made her feelings known today -- and she things the one-bill approach is a bad idea. Here's how Stabenow put it to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner during today's Budget Committee hearing:

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Environment

Inhofe Enlists Bush-Appointed IG to Help Him Smoke Out Enviro Leaker

Elana Schor | March 12, 2009, 2:23PM

I mentioned earlier today that Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) has an almost refreshing tendency to own up to his wackier attempts at antagonizing the environmental community. And here's a perfect case in point ...

Inhofe has teamed up with the Commerce Department's inspector general on a mission to unmask the source who gave the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) a draft of the Bush administration's regulatory attempt to unravel key portions of the Endangered Species Act.

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Environment

The Mystery of the Science Holds: Why'd Vitter Go Mum?

Elana Schor | March 12, 2009, 1:16PM

For two weeks now, TPMDC has been tracking the mysteriously delayed nominations of John Holdren, named as the president's next chief science adviser, and Jane Lubchenco, slated to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

A convincing, but still incomplete, trail of evidence points to Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who won cheers from conservatives for sharply questioning Holdren during the nominees' confirmation hearing last month. But when I asked him directly, Vitter denied placing the hold, raising the question of whether his staff may have been raising objections on his behalf.**

After all, a similar situation occurred in the case of Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), whose office stalled the confirmation of two other Obama environmental nominees in January. Barrasso aimed to use those nominees as leverage to meet with White House climate adviser Carol Browner, and he ended up getting what he was after. Could Vitter's staff be working a similar angle for him?

Strangely enough, Vitter's press office won't say. My multiple attempts to reach the senator's spokesman over the past few days have been unsuccessful. Why wouldn't the office simply confirm what Vitter told me himself, that he's not the source of the holdup?

We can rule out several other suspects in Holdren and Lubchenco's delay.

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Environment

Damned if They Do, Damned if They Don't? Dems Ponder a Filibuster-Proof Climate Bill

Elana Schor | March 12, 2009, 10:21AM

We first flagged this for you last week, but Democrats are facing a perilous choice on climate change this year: whether to tackle carbon emissions under "budget reconciliation" rules, which would shield the legislation from an all-but-assured GOP filibuster.

As the WSJ notes this morning, however, the argument for using reconciliation on climate change is as much due to opposition from Democrats as it is from Republicans. Senators from red-state centrist Max Baucus (D-MT) to rust-belt liberal Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are on record as unconvinced of the merits of cap-and-trade, so setting a 50-vote rather than 60-vote margin for passage is likely to make the difference between passing a bill and doing nothing.

The Senate environment committee's chairman, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), told TPMDC earlier this week that she's considering the reconciliation route, and a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told the WSJ that a final decision was "weeks" away.

But prominent GOP supporters of action on climate change, including John McCain (AZ) and Olympia Snowe (ME), have said that using reconciliation on the issue could torpedo climate change's prospects outright. Are Democrats damned if they do and damned if they don't? Stay tuned ...

Barack Obama

Obama's Too-Busy Meme, Cont'd

Matthew Cooper | March 11, 2009, 10:37AM

This morning, Matt Lauer continued the meme by asking Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer whether the president had "bitten off more than he could chew." Romer responds here:

Most of the he's too-busy meme has been absurd. But the always-smart Bill Galston, over at The New Republic, raises a more nuanced proposition here.

Galston notes that, unlike FDR, Obama doesn't have the same clout in a more divided Congress and that FDR really did keep things focused on the economic emergency in his first months. Galston notes:

Roosevelt delayed most of the structural reforms that did not bear directly on the economic emergency. For example, he did not even propose a commission to consider social insurance until June of 1934. Social Security legislation was introduced six months later, in January 1935, and was not signed into law until August of that year, after the provisions relating to health care had been stripped out.

Roosevelt organized his first term around two principles that the Obama administration would do well to ponder. First, he kept his (and the country's) attention firmly fixed on a single task: ending the crisis of confidence and restarting economic activity. While he was more sensitive than previous presidents to the links among seemingly disparate issues, these interconnections in his view did not warrant trying to move on all fronts at once. The people and the Congress had to be brought along with an agenda and a narrative that they could understand.

Fair enough, but I think there's a response to that, too.

First, distraction is a two-way street. Congress is constantly deviating from the economic emergency to deal with other stuff. I watched a fulsome debate on the transportation of chimpanzees and other primates the other day on C-SPAN. The House was taking up a bill in the wake of that chimp attack. It's not reasonable to focus just on one branch of government.

Second, Obama is talking about a lot of things but he's not sending up a torrent of legislation. There was the stimulus bill but everyone agreed there needed to be some kind of stimulus. He's encouraged Congress to come up with a health care plan but he hasn't forced a bill on them to consider. And besides is health care really a distraction? The facts show that you can't get entitlement reform or any control over future red ink without it. Why wait?

Third, Congress is a much bigger institution than it was in 1933 or even 1977, the other example the Galston cites. Staffs are bigger, there's more capacity to deal with more issues. If we have more of a logjam these days, it's owing to the partisan redrawing of districts, the culture of lobbying and so on but not an innate inability of Congress to handle more than a few things at a time.

As I said originally, if Obama suddenly decides to immerse himself in an obscure border dispute or something truly far afield, he ought to be called out on it. But green energy, health care, education, and other things he's pursuing all seem germane to the economy. You can disagree with them individually but it's hard to chide their relevance to the crisis at hand.

Budget

Centrist Dems Continue Slowly Deflating the President's Budget

Elana Schor | March 11, 2009, 9:57AM

It started last week, when an influential group of Senate Democrats began signaling to the Obama administration that its $3.55 trillion 2010 budget bites off more than they'd like to be chewing.

The centrist Dems threw up plenty of red flags, from Obama's decision to let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans in 2011 to the inclusion of climate change in the budget as an $80 billion-plus revenue raiser. And the most powerful member of this group is Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND), who quipped to The Hill yesterday that anyone who thinks the votes are there for Obama's budget is "smoking something."

That Conrad is joining the cadre of centrists putting the brakes on the White House budget isn't surprising -- he was also a skeptic of the stimulus -- but it is disheartening for anyone hoping for action on carbon emissions this year.

Conrad and his committee's ranking Republican, lapsed Commerce Secretary-designate Judd Gregg (NH), are singing from the same hymnal in criticizing carbon emissions regulations as too costly in the bad economy, handing the GOP a major cudgel to hit the forthcoming cap-and-trade climate bill when it emerges later on this year.

Anonymous Holds

Science Adviser Holds Update: Not Inhofe, Not Barrasso

Elana Schor | March 10, 2009, 1:28PM

We're on the hunt for the mystery senator (or senators) holding up approval of John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco, President Obama's nominees to become chief White House science adviser and head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To bring folks up to speed, it appeared initially that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was the sole lawmaker standing in the nominees' way, thanks to an unrelated dispute with Democratic leaders over the Cuban trade embargo. But that obstacle is no longer operative, leaving the situation murky as Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) references multiple holds on the nominees.

Yesterday we ruled out two GOP suspects, Sens. David Vitter (LA) and Mel Martinez (FL). Today we can strike two more likely suspects from the list: Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and John Barrasso (R-WY) both strongly oppose Holdren's pro-regulation stance on climate change, but both told me they're not behind the holds.

Inhofe couldn't confirm that the holds weren't coming from his environment committee, but he said flat out: "It's not me, though."

Anonymous Holds

Science Adviser Holds Update: Not Martinez, Not Vitter

Elana Schor | March 9, 2009, 6:08PM

On a day when President Obama struck a blow for truth-based science by reversing his predecessor's restrictions on stem cell research, it's unfortunate to report that two of Obama's top science advisors remain in limbo as anonymous Senate holds slow their confirmation.

I reported on Friday that John Holdren, nominated to become chief White House science adviser, and Jane Lubchenco, nominated to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, were being slowed by multiple GOP objections. But TPMDC is on the case quizzing potential culprits, and we can rule out two likely suspects: Sens. David Vitter (R-LA) and Mel Martinez (R-FL), both members of the Commerce Committee with jurisdiction over the nominees.

A Martinez spokesman confirmed today that he has no hold on Holdren and Lubchenco, while Vitter told me that "I've expressed concerns about Dr. Holdren in particular, but I do not have a hold."

The search continues ...

Late Update: To answer those wondering about Sen. Robert Menendez's (D-NJ) reported hold on Holdren and Lubchenco, per the WaPo, his spokesman confirmed on Friday that Menendez is not standing in the nominees' way as of now. Other unnamed senators still are holding them, however, according to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

Environment

The Make-or-Break Question on Climate Change: One Bill or Two?

Elana Schor | March 9, 2009, 2:16PM

For environmental groups that have waited nearly a decade to see meaningful action on climate change, a key choice is facing congressional Democrats: Do they tackle a cap-and-trade climate system separately from other energy issues, or do they draft one bill that includes regulation of carbon emissions as well as a new renewable electricity standard for states?

The question sounds wonkish -- but it's likely to determine whether the cap-and-trade and renewable electricity proposals can become law this year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is already on board with the one-bill approach in her chamber, as Bloomberg reports today, but that makes sense for two reasons.

First, Pelosi's nearly 80-seat margin of control in the House makes the task of passing a combined energy-environment package much easier for her than for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV); second, climate change and energy are both controlled by the same House committee, the Energy and Commerce panel chaired by the influential progressive Henry Waxman (D-CA).

As Politico notes today, Waxman is facing a possible hiccup if Charles Rangel's (D-NY) Ways and Means Committee decides to push its own carbon tax plan, but Pelosi is sure to remain confident in his ability to steer a massive dual bill to passage. In the Senate, matters are much different -- the energy committee, chaired by Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), has jurisdiction over renewable electricity, while the environment panel led by Barbara Boxer (D-CA) takes the lead on climate change.

Does that mean passing both issues in one Senate bill would be impossible?

Read more »

Anonymous Holds

Obama Science Advisers Still Slowed as No Culprit Steps Forward

Elana Schor | March 6, 2009, 11:46AM

The slowdown in approval of President Obama's economic team, both at Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisers, is getting a lot of attention today. But let's not forget that two senior White House science adviser-designates are still going nowhere: John Holdren, named to lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Jane Lubchenco, named to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, remain in limbo.

The likely source of the culprit would seem to be the Senate Commerce Committee, although that panel approved the nominations last month. "I am unaware of any GOP Commerce Committee members who are raising questions," one Senate source said via email.

But other sources pointed me to Commerce -- so just in case, I reached out to all the Republicans on that committee. The next likely source of the slowdown would be GOPers on the Senate environment committee, particularly given Holdren's progressive views on climate change, but Sen. Jim Inhofe's (R-OK) office did not return a request for comment on the nominations.

Rest assured, however, that we'll stay on this story.

Late Update: A source close to the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that there is, right now, no hold from Menendez on the nominees. It remains unclear when the hold evaporated -- sometime between the WaPo's original report on Tuesday and today, it seems. But either way, the nominees would have been quickly cleared if Menendez were the only original objector. So the search goes on...

Environment

Detroit Pushes National Fuel Efficiency Standard -- But Will it Like the One it Gets?

Elana Schor | March 5, 2009, 2:11PM

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding a hearing today on the waiver request by California, as well as more than a dozen other states, to allow higher auto fuel-efficiency standards under the Clean Air Act.

The Detroit Three -- General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler -- are not sending direct spokesmen to the event. But one of their home-state senators, Carl Levin (MI), is there, and his argument tracks with what the auto industry wants: a "single national standard" to govern auto tailpipe emissions.

That doesn't sound so bad, does it? Well, the Clean Air Act did allow California to set its own environmental regulation standards and give other states the authority to opt in, but let's assume that a national standard would be the best solution for automakers as well as the nation. Now where should the national standard be set?

When I asked Levin this question last week, he said any national standard should simply be "fairly achieved" and that the specific fuel-efficiency level should be "left to the experts."

But Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign and the Sierra Club's former senior global warming advocate, sees the "national standard" push in a different way: as Detroit's code for urging rejection of the California waiver. "When they say 'one national standard,'" Becker told me, "what they mean is ... [that] California['s waiver] should be obliterated and the EPA should keep its nose out. That ain't gonna happen."

What may happen? The automakers may end up ruing the day they advocated for a uniform national standard.

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Budget

The New 'Nuclear Option': Fast-Tracking Climate Change in the Budget

Elana Schor | March 3, 2009, 6:27PM

President Obama's budget is a veritable road map to a more progressive tax policy, as I noted earlier today, but it also includes specific plans for regulating carbon emissions to fight climate change.

That, in turn, opens the door for Congress to use "budget reconciliation" process rules that would shield climate legislation from Senate filibusters when it comes to a vote (expected later this year or early next year). Using reconciliation to speed passage of health care reform has been a hot topic since onetime health secretary Tom Daschle flirted with the idea earlier this year, but budget reconciliation for climate change is a relatively new prospect in the Capitol Hill pipeline. And guess who thinks it's a terrible idea, as Roll Call reports today (sub. req'd)?

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Senate

Dem Senator Holds Up Science Nominees to Force Continuation of Cuba Embargo

Elana Schor | March 3, 2009, 10:47AM

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a strong supporter of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, is launching a full-on battle this week to remove several provisions from the 2009 government spending bill that would open a small crack in the slammed door of relations with Havana.

Menendez fired a broadside at the Obama administration yesterday for backing a provision buried in the $410 billion spending bill, which must become law by next week in order to keep the government running. The New Jersey senator, a Cuban-American, objects to language in the bill that would allow Cuban-Americans to visit relatives on the island once a year and end limits on the sale of American food and medicines in Cuba.

Menendez even suggested yesterday that he might oppose the spending bill if the Cuba provisions were not removed, saying in a floor speech that they "[put] the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide.''

Polls suggest that the majority of Cuban-Americans side with the administration, rather than Menendez -- an influential poll of the community, conducted in Florida every year since 1991, found in December that 55% of Cuban-Americans supported lifting the embargo against Havana.

But regardless of where public opinion stands, Menendez's effort is no longer confined to the spending bill. The WaPo reports today that the senator has held up two Obama science nominees in an attempt to twist the arms of his fellow Dems:

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Barack Obama

Democratic Spending Bill Reverses Infamous Bush Rule on Endangered Species

Elana Schor | February 25, 2009, 12:19PM

The $410 billion government spending bill that's poised to pass the House of Representatives today contains a lot of good new science and sex-ed policies -- but that's not its only hidden gem.

The bill also authorizes a reversal of last year's controversial Bush end run around the Endangered Species Act, which would allow oil rigs and highways to be built anywhere in the U.S. without independent reviews of their potential impact on the surrounding wildlife populations. As Bloomberg reports:

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Environment

Do Not Read This Story While Drinking Liquids ...

Elana Schor | February 19, 2009, 3:59PM

... because they may come out of your nose in the course of uproarious laughter. Here's the headline on a new interview from the Austin American Statesman: "Bush rules improved the environment, says former EPA administrator".

And the money quote from Richard Greene, a regional director in the Bush-era EPA who's attempting to defend the agency's environmental enforcement record:

[D]uring the course of the Bush administration, the rules and regulations governing the operations of American business and industry were tightened and improved more than they have ever been. The tendency by some in the media, to pick one or two out of thousands of regulations and to conclude the agency didn't achieve its missions, is just bewildering to me. There were one or two things of controversy. Every one of those items you mentioned, the agency has a response to. The Bush administration even gets reversed in court because it overreached in regulatory rule-making initiatives, in federal appeals.

Yes, judges have overturned Bush environmental rules as overreaching ... in their readiness to violate the Endangered Species Act.

Stimulus

FutureGen 'Clean Coal' Earmark Removed From Stimulus

Elana Schor | February 12, 2009, 12:09PM

Thanks to a reader who sent us the final numbers on what's in and out of the final stimulus bill, we can finally start digging into the substance of the deal that's headed for approval by this weekend. (We have the charts of those internal numbers for you right here.)

Here's the first thing I noticed: Remember when we told you about the Senate's attempt to sneak in a $2 billion earmark for FutureGen, the Illinois "clean coal" plant? That's been zeroed out in the final stimulus pact.

As strange as this sounds, score one for Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).

Late Update: N.B. Until legislative language is formally filed on the bill today, there's always the possibility that these numbers could change. What we're bringing you are the freshest details.

Environment

Protect Our Priorities, Green Energy Group Tells Pelosi

Elana Schor | February 9, 2009, 11:51AM

One month ago, TPM broke the news of a new Sustainable Energy & Environment Caucus being formed in the House to push for environmentally friendly recovery proposals in the stimulus bill.

The SEEC is now stepping up its efforts to ensure that the final version of the stimulus measure keeps its promise of investment in renewable energy and mass transit -- both of them proven job creators. Led by co-chairmen Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Steve Israel (D-NY), 25 members of the SEEC have written a letter to House leaders outlining their priorities.

Amid a flurry of coverage criticizing the shortcomings of the stimulus, the SEEC letter is a healthy reminder that the recovery plan does contain incentives for the nation to wean itself from fossil-fuel addiction ... if the House and Senate can be persuaded not to remove any worthy provisions during conference talks, that is.

Stimulus

Senator Boxer and Fix-it-First: Why the Stimulus is Getting Infrastructure Wrong

Elana Schor | February 4, 2009, 4:09PM

Vice President Biden, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) will be appearing at a suburban Maryland train station tomorrow morning to tout the congressional stimulus bill -- or in the White House press office's words, "the need to invest in transportation infrastructure in order to build a 21st century economy." And few thinking Americans would challenge them on that point.

But as lawmakers and the mainstream press are coming to realize, and as we noted weeks ago, the stimulus plan dedicates stunningly few resources to creating the type of transportation infrastructure that can alleviate over-taxed public transit systems while weaning the nation from its obsession with environmentally unsustainable car travel.

What's the trouble? Why aren't we seeing liberal Democrats, at the very least, push for the kind of groundbreaking transit projects that not only create jobs, but fulfill the president's promise for a massive investment in public works?

Part of the answer lies in two parallel transportation policy story-lines that are playing out on the Hill this week: one dealing with Senate environment commitee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the other with what advocates call the "fix-it-first" requirement.

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Stimulus

Bond: Long-Term Mass Transit Investment "Not Stimulative"

Elana Schor | February 3, 2009, 4:05PM

As I noted earlier today, Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is said to be on the verge of endorsing an effort to open up the stimulus bill's $5.5 billion transportation grants program to highways rather than limit it to mass transit systems that sorely need more money.

Who on earth would push such an amendment in the first place, you ask? Why, the headed-for-retirement Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO). From CQ's report today:

[Bond] plans to offer an amendment that would transfer $5.5 billion in the bill for surface transportation competitive grants to the highway and bridge formula. The grants are meant for larger projects of national or regional significance that can be started within three years. Bond said that is not stimulative.

"Projects of national and regional significance" that can give Americans an alternative to car travel are "not stimulative"? Say what? Then again, Bond has long denied a human role in climate change and helped block congressional action on the issue. So if Boxer agrees to sign on to his proposal, it's not without being warned.