Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said he will to bring the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill (S. 2191) to the Senate floor for consideration the first week in June, although there are reports that this date could slip. In advance of the floor debate, Senate Environment and Publics Works (EPW) Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has been working to modify the committee-approved bill to garner broader support from Senate colleagues. To that end, Sen. Boxer released (5/19) a summary of the "Manager's Amendment" she plans to offer as a substitute for the committee-passed bill. The legislative language has not yet been released.
According to the summary, highlights of the Manager's Amendment include:
- New market oversight provisions that identify crucial principles to prevent market manipulation and disruption and creation of an inter-agency group of regulatory agencies to develop recommendations to implement those principles;
- A new provision to automatically release additional emissions allowances into the market when their cost hits a certain price range. Those allowances will, however, be "borrowed" against future allowance issuances, as in the committee-approved version of the bill, so that the bill's original emissions caps are preserved;
- Approximately $800 billion in new tax relief to "help consumers in need of assistance related to energy costs." The details of this assistance will be developed by the Senate Finance Committee at a future date;
- A new program to encourage the construction of highly efficient commercial building and retrofits of existing buildings;
- A new program to encourage retailers and distributors to increase sales of energy efficient building equipment, electronics and consumer appliances;
- A new program to support the change-over of large, commercial truck fleets to fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles.
- Cost estimates of the value of allowances allocated in the underlying Lieberman-Warner bill as follows: $190 billion to fund worker retraining and assistance programs; $213 billion in transition assistance to carbon-intensive manufacturers; $307 billion in transition assistance for fossil-fueled electric utilities; $34 billion to oil refiners for transition assistance; $20 billion in transition assistance to natural gas processors; $911 billion in energy assistance to low- and middle-income consumers; $254 billion in transition assistance to states that rely heavily on manufacturing and coal; $171 billion in funding for mass transit; $146 billion to fund the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program and $566 billion for states that take early action on emissions reductions;
Using the cost estimates provided in the summary, Senators who oppose the Lieberman-Warner bill will characterize it as $5.6 billion in new federal programs and spending, generated through higher costs to consumers for electricity, heating and cooling, gasoline and other manufactured goods.