Congressional Quarterly Reports Target Adjournment Date Congressional Quarterly has reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has set November 16th as the Senate target adjournment date. No House adjournment date has yet been announced.
House to Consider Energy Bill Next Week
The House Democratic leadership is struggling to reach agreement on two key issues -- a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards - before clearing the "Energy Independence" bill for consideration by the full House. Members are meeting to work out an agreement hoping that the bill will be considered late next week.
Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM) is working hard to garner enough votes for his RPS amendment which would mandate utilities to reach a 20 percent RPS by 2020. As drafted, the amendment currently does not mandate, but instead encourages federal, municipal, and cooperative utilities to participate in an RPS program. Currently, it has 121 co-sponsors in the House.
However, the House has never voted on an RPS, nor has there been serious consideration of such an amendment in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Moreover, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) has made clear he would prefer that members not offer an RPS amendment or CAFE increase amendment to the current energy legislation but instead, wait until the fall.
Senate Moderates Advance "Cost Control" Climate Bill
Today (7/24) four key Senate moderates -- Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and John Warner (R-VA) introduced global warming legislation that is meant to limit the costs to the U.S. economy if Congress implements a cap-and-trade program to control heat-trapping emissions. The bill, not yet numbered, would track the prices for carbon dioxide in a new U.S. climate market and allow industries a flexible option if prices stay too high for too long.
The bill would create a new seven-member "Carbon Market Efficiency Board" that would have direct oversight of the system. The Board would operate similarly to the way the Federal Reserve monitors inflation, interest rates and the overall U.S. economy.
The bill would allow companies faced with mandatory pollution cuts to borrow (with interest) against their future requirements if the carbon price persists beyond Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates. If the borrowing does not work, more allowances would be temporarily released into the market, with the provision that future pollution requirements get tougher.
The bill is not a cap-and-trade bill, but is written to complement a climate change package like those currently under consideration. In fact, Sens. Warner and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are putting the finishing touches on a bi-partisan cap-and-trade bill they expect to introduce before Congress breaks for the August recess.