The American Clean Energy and Security Act might get a vote in the House this week after all.
The House Committee on Rules posted the bill on its website late Monday — with 255 additional pages, bringing the total page count to 1201. The bill’s prospects for going to a floor vote this week looked dim just a few days ago. But the site notes that there’s a deadline of 9:30 a.m. on Thursday for amendments — meaning there could be a vote on Friday before legislators head home for the July 4 recess.
We’ll have more soon. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) confirms that while bill sponsors Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are still working out a deal with Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), she believes they will be able to vote on it by the end of the week.
“There are some issues still under discussion, but we are confident we can resolve them by the time the bill goes to the floor on Friday,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill told Politico.
UPDATE 2: There are some changes included in the version of the bill submitted to the Rules Committee Monday night, mostly reflecting requested changes from the Ways and Means and Science and Technology committees. Many of the biggest adjustments – the ones they’re still working out with Ag Committee Chair Peterson – are not reflected in this document. Additional changes will likely come through a manager’s amendment later this week.
One of the changes made to the bill is that it now gives away 0.5 percent of the pollution permit value to rural electric cooperatives free of charge. This is among the changes that Peterson sought. They’ve also agreed to put a cap on free allowances for merchant coal generators and other power companies to prevent them from making a profit off of those allocations..
The authors are still negotiating with Peterson and other ag state Democrats on the oversight of offsets and more incentives for biofuel production. What comes of those negotiations is expected to make or break the bill’s chances of passing in the House this week, as Peterson and moderate “Blue Dog Democrats” have expressed reservations about approving the bill as it currently stands.
