CongressDaily's Amy Harder and Dan Friedman report that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will no longer push to pass comprehensive energy legislation before Congress takes a month-long August recess, according to the Atlantic.
Reid had set a personal deadline to pass the energy legislation before the August recess, but expressed to other lawmakers at a luncheon recently that the bill was not finished, according to Bloomberg. Reid's bill "is a stripped-down version of legislation that passed the House last year and stalled in the Senate." President Obama "continues to press Congress to pass an energy bill that, among other provisions, addresses issues raised by the BP [] oil spill."
Senator Joe Lieberman stated that Democrats should delay voting on the legislation to negotiate details including a plan to cap carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Executives with the Edison Electric Institute, which "has spent almost two years advocating for a cap-and-trade system" said that the bill was unlikely to include an emission cap because "time was running out for Congress to deal with that issue."
The details that remain unsettled seem revolve around whether the energy legislation will include a cap-and-trade system and if so, what type of system this would entail. Senators Lieberman and Kerry are advocating for a cap-and-trade plan that "would apply to power plants that produce roughly one-third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions." Some Democrats, however, do not believe a cap-and-trade provision can pass.
To read the Atlantic story, click here.
To read the Bloomberg story, click here.
Posted: 07/22/2010
