Comments on: No, Climate Legislation's Not Dead http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2009/03/25/no-climate-legislations-not-dead/ Blogging the science and policy of global warming Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:48:10 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: bradplumer http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2009/03/25/no-climate-legislations-not-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-5625 bradplumer Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:56:10 +0000 http://blogs.edf.org/truthsquad/2009/03/25/no-climate-legislations-not-dead/#comment-5625 Fair enough, I could've been clearer in the video, but I do think "later this year or early next year," as I said in the video, sounds like a likely--ambitious, even--time frame for getting cap-and-trade passed into law, with other items like the federal RPS and electric-grid bill getting finished beforehand. (That TNR video was mostly about the ongoing discussions in Congress over whether to fold all of these things into one gigantic bill or pass them separately.) Anyway, I thought this was a very commonly shared expectation. Mostly I was surprised to see that reiterating this got me lumped in with Heritage and Michael Steele! Best, Brad Fair enough, I could've been clearer in the video, but I do think "later this year or early next year," as I said in the video, sounds like a likely–ambitious, even–time frame for getting cap-and-trade passed into law, with other items like the federal RPS and electric-grid bill getting finished beforehand. (That TNR video was mostly about the ongoing discussions in Congress over whether to fold all of these things into one gigantic bill or pass them separately.)

Anyway, I thought this was a very commonly shared expectation. Mostly I was surprised to see that reiterating this got me lumped in with Heritage and Michael Steele!

Best,
Brad

]]> By: Sam Parry http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2009/03/25/no-climate-legislations-not-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-5624 Sam Parry Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:32:07 +0000 http://blogs.edf.org/truthsquad/2009/03/25/no-climate-legislations-not-dead/#comment-5624 Hi Bradford -- thanks for your comments. Our original post focused on your video blog entry last week in which you said: "If anything, there is a case to be made that Congress is kind of rushing on the whole cap and trade legislation. Henry Waxman has said that he wants a bill out by Memorial Day. Barbara Boxer says she wants a bill out of the Senate by a similar time… "I think there's a real case to be made for splitting this up and waiting until later this year or early next year on cap and trade until Obama can really focus his full attention on it and do what's possible in the meantime." Our post last week focused on these points, which sounded like you were advocating slowing down Congressional action and waiting until some point down the road to go for a climate bill. We think it's very important to keep the focus on moving a strong bill as soon as possible for the reasons we spelled out in our posts. It will be hard, no question. But, political momentum squandered isn't easily regained. We appreciate your clarification that you are not advocating slowing down action. Hi Bradford — thanks for your comments. Our original post focused on your video blog entry last week in which you said:

"If anything, there is a case to be made that Congress is kind of rushing on the whole cap and trade legislation. Henry Waxman has said that he wants a bill out by Memorial Day. Barbara Boxer says she wants a bill out of the Senate by a similar time…

"I think there's a real case to be made for splitting this up and waiting until later this year or early next year on cap and trade until Obama can really focus his full attention on it and do what's possible in the meantime."

Our post last week focused on these points, which sounded like you were advocating slowing down Congressional action and waiting until some point down the road to go for a climate bill.

We think it's very important to keep the focus on moving a strong bill as soon as possible for the reasons we spelled out in our posts. It will be hard, no question. But, political momentum squandered isn't easily regained.

We appreciate your clarification that you are not advocating slowing down action.

]]> By: bradplumer http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2009/03/25/no-climate-legislations-not-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-5623 bradplumer Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:09:08 +0000 http://blogs.edf.org/truthsquad/2009/03/25/no-climate-legislations-not-dead/#comment-5623 Sorry, but this is a misreading. I've said all along that a cap-and-trade bill *can* technically pass this year (even if it's not going in the budget reconciliation bill, a point that's caused much confusion recently), but also that it'll be very difficult to overcome a Senate filibuster, and the best chance to finally get a strong bill passed might actually come next year. Yes, delay is bad and ideally a climate bill would pass tomorrow, but "should" and "can" are very different things, and that's my sense of the political reality. (Incidentally, Joe Romm of Climate Progress has argued along similar lines--don't tell me you think he underestimates the seriousness of the situation, too.) Sorry, but this is a misreading. I've said all along that a cap-and-trade bill *can* technically pass this year (even if it's not going in the budget reconciliation bill, a point that's caused much confusion recently), but also that it'll be very difficult to overcome a Senate filibuster, and the best chance to finally get a strong bill passed might actually come next year. Yes, delay is bad and ideally a climate bill would pass tomorrow, but "should" and "can" are very different things, and that's my sense of the political reality.

(Incidentally, Joe Romm of Climate Progress has argued along similar lines–don't tell me you think he underestimates the seriousness of the situation, too.)

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