legislation
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To get support for a climate bill, offer cash back to Americans, argues Rep. Chris Van Hollen
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) thinks he’s got the key to passing a climate bill this year: send every American a rebate. It’s not a bribe, but a dividend — and one he thinks will help grow support for legislation to cap carbon. Van Hollen, an up-and-coming Democratic leader and chair of the Democratic Congressional […]
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As Specter moves to Democratic Party, will he help pass a climate bill?
Washington is buzzing about Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter’s surprise switch to the Democratic Party on Tuesday, a move that will likely give Dems enough votes to overcome filibusters. Specter, a moderate who sits on the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, has been considered a key swing vote on climate and energy, among other issues. […]
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Dingell joins Republicans in calling cap-and-trade an ‘energy tax’
It’s not just Republicans who are calling a cap-and-trade program a tax. “Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax, and a great big one,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said at last Friday’s hearing with Al Gore on the House climate bill. Dingell, who until last November chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee, […]
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Debate on climate bill delayed until next week
Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), authors of the draft climate bill in the House that was hotly debated last week, announced on Monday that they will wait until next week to offer the bill up for amendments. That process had originally been planned to take place in the Energy and Environment Subcommittee […]
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Protecting Consumers Under a Carbon Cap
Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee next week will begin debating one of the most critical pieces of the Waxman-Markey climate bill: how the government will distribute the emissions permits, and the corresponding “allowance value,” under a cap and trade program for greenhouse gases. The formula Congress arrives at will be key to […]
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Rep. Michele Bachmann says CO2 is ‘a natural byproduct of nature’
We’ve heard Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) rant about cap-and-trade in the past. Last week, on Earth Day, she attempted a scientific explanation of why carbon dioxide is not a problem. “Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of nature!” she said. Carbon dioxide is natural. It occurs in Earth. It is a part of the regular […]
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Gore and Gingrich bump heads at House climate hearing
Debate on the House climate bill got heated on Friday as Al Gore and Newt Gingrich — two lightning-rod political figures — testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee. Gingrich came crying foul that Congress is poised to begin regulating Jacuzzis, while Gore – you guessed it! –testified to the urgent need to pass an […]
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Tennessee rep accuses Gore of trying to profit from climate bill
One of the more, uh, interesting moments from Friday’s climate hearings in the House was this exchange between Al Gore and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who suggested that Gore would profit from a cap-and-trade bill. Here’s the video, via TPM, and a transcription follows: Blackburn: I think it’s really important that no suspicion or shadow […]
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Interest groups pile on with suggested changes to House climate bill
The third day of climate hearings in the House made it clear that even representatives and interest groups that nominally support the principles of the Markey-Waxman bill have a laundry list of changes they’d like to see made to the bill before they’ll back it. Thursday’s hearings brought 26 new witnesses before the Energy and […]
