Reid's high-stakes climate bill gamble

By: Coral Davenport and Darren Samuelsohn June 24, 2010 05:52 PM EDT

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is planning a high-risk, high-stakes strategy for bringing climate and energy legislation to the floor ahead of the August recess. The gamble: yoking a bipartisan, fast-track measure to overhaul offshore drilling rules with a broad, contentious bill capping greenhouse gas emissions that otherwise would have almost no chance of passage on its own. Reid’s own Democrats are mixed on the strategy for notching 60 votes. Some argue that public perception of fossil fuels in the wake of the BP oil spill will sway enough of the party’s swing votes and open Republicans to attack if they oppose the measure as their reelection campaigns head into the homestretch. “Republicans are not supporting virtually anything to transform our energy system,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “That’s not what the American people want. So I think you bring forth a strong bill, you rally the American people and I think the Republicans will respond as a result of that.” Thus far, Reid can’t count on all Democrats coalescing around this approach. Several say they are fearful that hitching a popular oil reform bill to a big, unwieldy climate plan will just sink legislation that could otherwise serve as a quick, easy and politically popular win. One leading Democrat who’s wary of Reid’s strategy is the leader of the party’s 2010 Senate campaign committee, Robert Menendez of New Jersey. “I think we should do them separately,” he said. “The oil regulation bill is moving fast and has a lot of support.” Reid on Thursday offered broad-brush details of his legislative plans in remarks to reporters after an hourlong closed-door meeting with all 59 members of the Democratic Caucus. Senate sources said about 20 senators in the room spoke in favor of carbon limits. Reid afterward called the meeting “inspirational” and signaled he had no plans to sidestep the controversial concept. “The Democratic Caucus realizes we have a problem,” Reid said. “We have a phenomenon that is here and if we don’t do something about it, our planet’s destruction could be there.” Reid also all but dared Republicans to oppose a broad legislative package that could be positioned politically as the Senate’s response to the oil spill. “We’re going to write a bill that sets reasonable goals over a reasonable time frame that’d benefit both our environment and our economy,” he said. “We’re going to write a bill that can pass the Senate. My caucus is ready to get to work, but we need the cooperation of brave Republicans. It’s my hope they will join us in putting good policy over bad politics.” Reid plans to build the floor package around a bill fast-tracked for approval next week in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee that would impose new safety and environmental rules and increase oversight of oil companies doing offshore exploration. Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman and ranking member on the committee, respectively, introduced the legislation together on Monday, with plans to amend it next week with more oil spill ideas from Sens. Menendez, Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.). Interior Secretary Ken Salazar testified at a hearing Thursday that the underlying package was “a very good bill.” The Democratic leader’s floor plan addresses a growing desire by the Obama administration to take swift action on any legislation that could prevent a future disaster like the Gulf Coast oil spill. Republicans who once would have resisted legislation that would impose new safety and environmental restrictions on the oil industry are now lining up in favor of such measures, in part to avoid being seen in the same light as Rep. Joe Barton, the Texas Republican who drew intense pressure from his own caucus after publicly apologizing to BP. But Reid may also be playing with fire by pushing climate change provisions that nearly all Republicans have painted as an expensive new taxes and moderate Democrats see as an unpopular vote they’d rather avoid. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he would prefer that the focus remain on responding to the oil spill. Asked whether he’d be open to additional energy provisions, McConnell replied, “It depends entirely on what it looks like. If it’s a national energy tax, which is what cap and trade is, I think it’s not going to pass.” Reid hasn’t settled yet on whether to push for a sweeping cap on greenhouse gases that covers multiple sectors of the economy — including power plants, transportation fuels and energy-intensive manufacturers of products like glass, cement, and pulp and paper — or a more limited approach that would deal with only power plants. Additional clarity is expected when Reid leads a group of Senate Democrats and Republicans to the White House for a meeting with President Barack Obama, probably early next week. For now, some Democrats are pressing Reid to drop the entire carbon-cap plan and instead go forward with a nationwide renewable electricity standard. A carbon cap “will be difficult to achieve at this stage given the current circumstances,” said Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.). “But I do think it’s possible we can make progress on an energy bill that begins to make progress on the climate issue. But the clock is ticking.” Daniel J. Weiss, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund, said Reid needs to force members of his caucus to take the climate vote just as he did earlier this year on health care reform. Weiss said, “There are some Democrats who have made it clear they don’t want to have to vote on this — they’ve even told Reid they won’t vote for it. But when push comes to shove, they won’t be able to vote against it because of the other good stuff in there. The question is how many of those there are and how far they can push them.” Scott Wong and Giovanni Russonello contributed to this report.