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| Home Front: Politix |
| Baucus makes a grab for climate bill |
| 2009-09-12 |
| For liberal Democrats unhappy with the way Max Baucus is handling health care reform, here's another dose of bad news: He's got his hands on climate and energy, too. Behind closed doors, Sen. Baucus has been staking his claim on major aspects of the climate bill, including financing for a cap-and-trade system. His power play could put Baucus at the helm of the Obama administration's domestic agenda, giving an unpredictable Montana Democrat control over legislative proposals that could define the Democratic Party for years to come. "He's swung from liberal to conservative," said Montana pollster Craig Wilson, noting Baucus's support of the 2001 Bush tax cuts and the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill. "He's been a bit of an unpredictable vote for the Democrats." Yet Baucus remains a signpost for moderates and could draw more conservative members of his party to support the Obama administration's key initiatives. "The old saying used to be 'as Maine goes, so goes the nation,'" says Frank O'Donnell, head of Clean Air Watch, an environmental advocacy group. "On climate, it's 'as Baucus goes, so goes the Senate.'" But liberals have complained that Baucus's obsession with getting Republican support for the health care bill has slowed progress on the issue, and they worry the same thing will happen on climate change. In public, Baucus has kept a laserlike focus on the health care negotiations -- honoring the administration's wishes to put cap and trade on the back burner until Congress completes its work on health care. "We've got health care. It's going to take up most of the month. It's going to be difficult to also do [climate]," he told Environment & Energy Daily this week. |
| Posted by:Fred |