Climate Bill Delayed … Again … As Sen. Graham Drops Support
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As if a climate bill hasn’t gone through enough hurdles over the past year, today adds another goomba to the quest for clean energy. On Saturday, Sen. Graham (R-SC), a co-author of the legislation along with Sen. Kerry (D-MA) and Sen. Lieberman (I-CT), threatened to walk away from his many months of work on this legislation if Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) puts immigration policy reform ahead of climate.
That threat has delayed today’s unveiling of the bill and Sen. Kerry and Sen. Lieberman are working with Sen. Graham this evening to win back his support. Sen. Graham is the only Republican working with Democrats on this bill, and he has risk his reputation and the support of his party. His sponsorship of the bill is expected to garner votes from other Republicans, but has also earned him scorn from his party and his home state.
This shockwave ripped through the internet, and everyone has an opinion. Tom Friedman of the New York Times and David Roberts from Grist blames Harry Reid/Democrats. Huffington Post features an attack on Sen. Graham for playing politics. And Joe Romm from Climate Progress says that if the White House loses Sen. Graham, then this would “certainly kill any chances of a climate bill this year.”
Sen. Reid says that he believes immigration and climate can both be solved this year, and still places a high priority on the climate-energy bill. Bloggers are speculating that the shift in priorities is because Sen. Reid is in a loosing battle for his reelection in Nevada, and that immigration reform might be his saving grace with the Hispanic population. Others say that the recent law signed in Arizona, which gives controversial powers to law enforcement to detain and deport illegal immigrants, has caused Democrats to react with force. And The Hill reports that the White House believes both issues are important, and deserve equal attention. But for months, the White House has placed this climate bill among the top three issues, along with health care and financial reform. Roberts says this is a test of leadership for President Obama.
“Is he willing to let [the climate-energy bill] get lost in the shuffle in a futile bid to save Reid’s ass? If he does he’ll either look powerless over his own party or insincere about his own professed values and priorities,” writes Roberts.
Friedman takes it a step further saying if the White House and Reid go through with this, then it will be a “travesty.”
“The bill is a step in the right direction toward reducing greenhouse gases and expanding our base of clean power technologies so we can compete with China in this newest global industry. It ain’t perfect, but it ain’t beanbag,” writes Friedman.
Even the GOP group Republicans for Environmental Protection are calling foul on Sen. Reid.
“If Harry Reid goes through with his surprising talk of pushing immigration reform ahead of climate and energy, he will be putting his own political interests above addressing energy and climate challenges that threaten our nation and the world,” said David Jenkins, the group’s vice president for government and political affairs.
But Reid isn’t the only Senator receiving scorn. Writing for the Huffington Post, Frank Sharry, the Executive Director of America’s Voice – an organization fighting for immigration reform – says that Sen. Graham’s withdrawal from the legislation is the real “cynical political ploy.”
Sen. Graham has also been working with Democratic New York Senator Charles Schumer on immigration. Over in Arizona, Sen. McCain (R-AZ) is facing a tough primary battle against “anti-immigrant fire-breather” J.D. Hayworth. Sen. McCain, who has supported immigration reform in the past, has had to realign himself as a hard-right, tough-on-immigrants Senator to win the primary. Sen. McCain has even supported the new Arizona law. Sharry asserts that if immigration comes to the Senate floor before the primary, then Sen. McCain will face a tough vote, and possible lose his primary. In order to save his Republican colleague, Sen. Graham is delaying immigration, and threatening to end his work with Democrats on both bills.
In short, this is more political drama then I can stand. It has taken months to get this far, and on the very eve of its unveiling, this bill is delayed again by more political BS. I just want to know what the bill says, and if it’ll even reduce emission by 17 percent by 2020 like it promises. Luckily on that front, Kerry and Lieberman have started the review by the Environmental Protection Agency, a process which could take up to six weeks. Then there comes the review by the Congressional Budget Office. I trust both offices to give an un-bias analysis. Until then, let the shenanigans continue. [sigh] At least this gives me something to write about.
Tristan Fowler is a staff writer for Campus Progress.
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