{"id":12084,"date":"2015-12-16T13:50:56","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T18:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=12084"},"modified":"2015-12-16T13:50:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T18:50:56","slug":"congress-backs-down-from-harmful-environmental-rollbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2015\/12\/16\/congress-backs-down-from-harmful-environmental-rollbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress Backs Down from Harmful Environmental Rollbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rp_US_Capitol_Building_at_night_Jan_2006-300x226.jpg\"<\/a>Congress is on the verge of passing an omnibus spending bill for 2016, and the headlines will be that lawmakers — in a modest victory for common sense \u2013 are doing their job and avoiding another disastrous government shutdown.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in the omnibus bill is important, of course. But just as important is what\u2019s not<\/strong> in it.<\/p>\n

Left on the cutting room floor were a host of objectionable rollbacks that were jammed into various pieces of appropriations bills. That\u2019s a testament to both the courage of pro-environment negotiators in Congress and the White House, and to the growing political power of environmental issues.<\/p>\n

The loudest threat against the environment was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell\u2019s campaign pledge to block the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA) Clean Power Plan<\/a>. Never mind that this would mean unlimited carbon pollution from the nation\u2019s power plants, more asthma attacks, more smog, and more climate change.<\/p>\n

But McConnell\u2019s threat was far from the only danger. Among the potential \u201criders\u201d \u2013 rules in the bill meant to change or block policies \u2013 were ones designed to:<\/p>\n