Killing Cap And Trade

The Senate is making it clear it has no intention of dealing with climate change legislation in any way, shape or form.

“I don’t think we are going to take to the Senate floor a bill stripped of climate provisions,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, told reporters in Las Vegas on Aug. 11.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the renewable-energy legislation, 15-8, in June. Reid has set a deadline of Sept 28 for committees to complete work on climate- change provisions.

Ben Nelson of Nebraska and North Dakota Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan joined Lincoln in suggesting that the climate measure be put off.

“We should separate the energy bill from the climate bill,” Conrad told reporters this month. ‘It needs to be done as soon as we can get it done,” he said, referring to the energy legislation.

Climate legislation would require 60 votes in the Senate. Most Republicans have said they oppose the cap-and-trade measure, and at least 15 of the Senate’s 60-member Democratic majority have said the House-passed version would hurt the economy and needs to be revamped to win their support.

It would require 50 votes actually, but Republicans will filibuster it, as they do with all legislation. Still, it's clear the Dems don't have the votes for even 50 in the Senate right now. It's even more clear that the Senate lobbyists who don't want to pay to help fix the environment are running the place.

I do wonder what it will take before the US gets serious about climate change. What kills me is that the Democrats are doing the damage here after yelling for years that Republicans were never serious about climate change.