Senate Dems Divided On Climate-Change Bill (here we go again)

[depakid]

If Tuesday was any indication, the Senate's climate-change bill has a ways to go before it gets weak enough to garner the 60 votes it needs for passage.

The legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions took its standard shots from Republicans on the Environment and Public Works Committee during the first day of hearings, but unsurprisingly, they seem to have already made up their minds. Many left the committee room after delivering their opening remarks, and none remained through the end.

More threatening to the bill's prospects on the Senate floor were objections voiced by senators who are more likely to vote in favor of the final product: committee Democrats from predominantly rural states and fossil-fuel producers.

Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the bill's principal author, has been working for months behind the scenes to win over coal-state Democrats and other moderates, and most of the committee's Democrats praised her efforts on Tuesday. That didn't stop them from demanding more carveouts for themselves, however.

Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania acknowledged that the bill will create jobs for his constituents, but said he wants a bill that the United Mine Workers of America can support. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who said she wants the bill to provide a more "stable business environment," called for more nuclear-energy funding and suggested that she would work to weaken the bill's impact on farmers in the agriculture committee.

Most damning was Max Baucus of Montana, the second highest-ranking Democrat on the committee and formerly its chairman, who provided a long list of "serious reservations" about the bill's effects on his state.

"The legislation before us is about our economy," Baucus said. "Montana, with our resource-based agriculture and tourism economies, cannot afford the unmitigated impacts of climate change. But we also cannot afford the unmitigated affects of climate change legislation. That's why I support passing common-sense legislation that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while protecting our economy. The key word in that sentence is 'passing.'"

Baucus said the bill's 2020 emissions target, a 20 percent reduction from 2005 levels, was too strong. He didn't say, however, how weak the target should be, and wouldn't tell reporters outside the hearing room whether he would accept the 17 percent reduction mandated by the House climate bill that passed in July.


More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/senate-dems-divided-on-cl_n_335865.html