22 July 2010

Senate Dems Abandon Cap-n-Trade Bill

Climate-change legislation finally dead?
Ram-through still possible in November lame-duck session...
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Conceding they can't find enough votes for the measure, Senate Democrats will announce Thursday they are abandoning for now efforts to put together a comprehensive energy bill that would seek to limit greenhouse gas emissions, ending the immediate prospect for a key legislative priority of President Obama and congressional Democrats. 

Instead, Democrats, according to sources, will push for a more limited bill that would seek to increase liability costs that oil companies would pay following spills such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico and would create additional incentives for the purchase of both natural gas vehicles and products that can be used to reduce energy use in homes. And they have not ruled out pushing for a more comprehensive bill during the session Congress will have after the November election. 

Efforts to put together a major bill to limit carbon emissions and encourage the use of alternative energy sources had long been considered doomed in the Senate, even though the House has approved a bill that would set a limit on overall emissions of greenhouse gases while allowing utilities and other emitters to trade pollution permits. 

Senate Democrats had remained deeply divided on the issue... and there was virtually no GOP support on the issue... The decision by Democrats mean that two major issues they had pledged to take on this year, energy reform and immigration, could remain unresolved before the midterm elections...
And you know the Senate would have forced it through for Dear Leader if they felt it politically possible... but with today's all-time record low congressional approval of 11%, they're right to worry: besides the fact that they just can't scrape up enough votes for Obama's far-Left agenda any longer, there's a 
harsh retribution coming in November, just 14 weeks from now... and you can take that to the bank.
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