A Vorys attorney recently had the opportunity to participate in a small group lunch with a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week and shared several insights into the status of the Waxman climate change bill. First and foremost, it was clear to this Committee member that Chairman Waxman does not have the votes to move the bill as presently written out of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Blue Dog Democrats from the Midwest have said quite clearly that they will not vote for the current bill unless it is changed to, as one Blue Dog member put it, “make it less punitive to coal states.”
There are a significant number of issues now being negotiated between the Blue Dogs and Chairman Waxman, including the level of energy that must be produced from renewable sources and the target date for achieving that goal; the variety of technologies that will be included in the definition of biomass energy production; and perhaps the biggest issue, whether CO2 emission allowances will be auctioned or distributed for free. The Blue Dogs are almost uniformly opposed to using the auction of allowances to pay for other unrelated government programs, like healthcare reform.
It appeared to this Committee member that Chairman Waxman and the House Democratic leadership were just coming to realize that (1) the Blue Dogs will have to be accommodated in order to pass a bill out of the Energy and Commerce Committee and (2) accommodating them will be much more difficult than Waxman and the Democratic leadership apparently thought it would be.
The Representative said that there is “no way” that the Energy and Commerce Committee will pass the climate change bill by Chairman Waxman’s target date of Memorial Day, but that the bill could be taken to the House floor before the Fourth of July recess.
We will continue to watch this issue and keep you posted.