Plus video of Waxman and Markey in Copenhagen
A key House committee chairman today dismissed the idea that stalled cap-and-trade legislation is dead for the year and waved off the conventional political wisdom that it will cost Democrats seats.
“We’re determined to accomplish all our goals, and climate is a very important one that I expect to see in the Senate, with a bill emerging this year,” said House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). “I feel confident based on the intelligence I’ve received from conversations with some of the key players in the Senate.”
So E&E News PM (subs. req’d) reported last night. E&E feels obliged to quote Sen. Inhofe saying the bill is dead, but Waxman notes:
“On every issue that I’ve worked on this year, people have said it can’t happen and it’s dead for the year,” Waxman said.
As for those who think the bill is a political liability, Waxman explains:
“I don’t believe it because I don’t think the American people want our national security compromised by our increasing overreliance on foreign oil,” Waxman said. “They want jobs. That’s the way to get out of this recession. They want to do something about the threat to our environment from carbon emissions.”
I have a bunch of videos from Copenhagen I haven’t posted yet. Here’s Waxman and Markey together speaking at the BlueGreen Alliance reception about the climate and clean energy jobs bill:
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I hope so. If the Senate doesn’t act on cap-and-trade this year, it is likely that loss of democratic seats will prevent action for the next two years. Currently, cap-and-trade can probably squeak through on a close vote, as health insurance reform did. But Democrats will probably lose a few seats in the mid-term election, making action much more difficult in the next congress.
And if the US doesn’t pass legislation, then it seems unlikely that the world can come to an agreement to limit emissions. Without Senate action this year, there will be a delay of at least a few years before the world acts, which will make it impossible for world emissions to peak by 2015, which will make it much more unlikely that we can avoid catastrophic global warming.
I expect the Democrats will gain some seats in Congress in 2012, because the economy will be doing well by then. Obama will be popular for the same reason, and there will be a real possibility for the Democrats to transform the country, as the Republicans did during the Reagan administration.
But by then, it will probably be too late to stop catastrophic global warming.