Are Moderate Republicans & Obama's Leadership Keys to Federal Climate Law?

WASHINGTON—Chances of comprehensive climate change legislation emerging from Capitol Hill this year appear to be swirling down the congressional drain faster than most senators can pronounce “midterm re-election.”

Even so, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid still hasn’t publicly dismissed fleshing out his bare bones legislation with a renewable electricity standard and/or carbon caps, once senators file back from their August recess after Labor Day.

Their September docket will be otherwise jammed: a small business bill, a measure to halt “secret holds,” the renewed START treaty with Russia and passage of a continuing resolution on spending -- all before their scheduled adjournment Oct. 8, and a return after the Nov. 2 election for a lame-duck session.

Carol Browner, too, chief climate and energy adviser for the White House, continues to mouth optimism. She offered an upbeat note to NBC’s “Meet the Press” television viewers Aug. 8.

“We will continue to see if we can get legislation,” she said. “We passed it in the House. We'll continue to work in the Senate.”

But many longtime observers of incumbent politicians interviewed by Solve Climate News say that if it quacks like a lame duck, it is just that. That means last-minute efforts for any type of climate bill are likely dead on arrival.

The key question is, what happened, and what can advocates do differently when a new Congress, most likely with fewer Democrats, is sworn in?

Not Catering Enough to Moderate Republicans?

After the House launched supporters into euphoria by passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act in June 2009, how did the Senate plunge them to the depths of despair by not getting off the dime for the ensuing 14 months?

Yes, coal state Democrats are reluctant to clamber aboard and manufacturing states have job concerns. But why couldn’t a body with a supermajority of 60—which dropped to 59 when Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown to replace Democrat Ted Kennedy—rally enough moderate Republicans to the cause?

Those close to the negotiations say the Senate’s lack of action is due to a number of factors including dueling egos, a majority leader who doesn’t wield a large enough hammer, a president who doesn’t lay out a clear enough agenda and senators who are too inflexible to execute the horse trading necessary for an acceptable bill to emerge.

“This was a missed opportunity,” stated Jim DiPeso, policy director with Republicans for Environmental Protection. “It’s fecklessness on the Democrats’ part and irresponsibility on the part of the Republicans.”

President Obama Needs to Channel LBJ

Both DiPeso and his co-worker David Jenkins agree that Republicans need to see a well-grounded global warming bill that has rock solid support from President Obama before they take on the Herculean task of bucking their just-say-no-to-climate-legislation leadership.

“The president really has to spell out what he wants and make sure key people in Congress know what he wants, and that there will be strong consequences if he doesn’t get what he wants,” DiPeso said, adding that Obama needs strong-arming lessons from President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

No doubt, the intrepid Texas Democrat mastered his vote-gathering negotiations during his stint as Senate majority leader.

Environmental organizations recognize that because the Obama administration inherited two wars and a massive recession, it expended much political capital on a stimulus package and financial regulatory reform. And, the administration pressed forward with health care even after “tea party” protesters vilified “Obamacare” during vituperative town hall meetings in August 2009.

“Those other priorities meant there was little appetite to tackle clean energy and climate legislation,” explained Sara Chieffo, deputy legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters.

But neither DiPeso nor Jenkins views that as a valid excuse.