Washington Insight/Energy news brief from the Washington Times just reported:
Chairman Charles Rangel of the House Ways and Means Committee said he learned today that his panel has a deadline of June 19 to complete its version of the cap-and-trade bill now pending in the House.
The New York Democrat told reporters, “We’re going to make it” — referring to the deadline, which he said he was informed about by his staff. The staff apparently had gotten word of the deadline from the House Democratic leadership….
Rangel is expected to press for rebates of some kind to help low-income families cope with the higher energy costs that would come with a cap-and-trade system. Rangel said he would meet with his committee members daily until the deadline is met.
This still suggests to me that the bill is not going to be taken to the House floor the very next week, though it is a very tight timeframe if Rangel really intends to “formally mark up the climate bill” as E&E News had reported (see “Waxman-Markey climate bill taken off the fast track by House leaders“).
