Don't worry; the EPA will pick up the slack.Reid, Sen. Kerry and White House energy chief Carol Browner just finished speaking [yesterday] at the Capitol. They all repeatedly insisted that they weren't giving up on a comprehensive climate bill. Quite the opposite, they said. But through all the protesting-too-much, it sure sounded like they were surrendering, for now. They said that they just don't have the votes. They didn't give much hope that anyone could be swayed. And, tellingly, Reid somberly thanked everyone for their effort.
It looks more and more like President Obama won't be able to make the oceans stop rising this year. He and Senate Democrats have kicked climate legislation down the road since the beginning of 2009. And now Democratic aides are telling The Hill that Reid won't bring a climate bill to the floor next week as planned. Instead, he'll introduce legislation with provisions relating to the oil spill and a few other, non-controversial energy proposals, pass that before August and then, perhaps, take up a more ambitious bill in the fall - just before midterm elections, when little is likely to pass.
The lame ducks can pass it for sure.
But the underlying problem that has dogged this debate over the last year and a half is that some key Republican and Democratic senators are scared of voting for the most efficient policy available - placing a price on carbon - even if the policy were designed so that most Americans and, for that matter, the Treasury, wouldn't lose a dime in the process. Republicans who should know better have found it politically useful to attack -
If the Senate continues to do nothing, as seems ever more likely, they won't like the result. Without a real climate bill, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin to regulate carbon emissions using its existing authorities under the Clean Air Act beginning next January. That's fine for some environmentalists - the government will begin to battle greenhouse emissions seriously. But between the regulatory uncertainty, the bureaucratic hassle and the legal wrangling it will encourage, the EPA approach will almost certainly hurt a lot more.
Kill the economy slowly before the EPA crashes it!