William Yeatman

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11 to 8 late on Wednesday to send the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act to the floor. That's probably the last action on S. 2191 for this Congress, but Chairman Barbara Boxer will now arrive at COP-13 in Bali in triumph.

The House on Thursday voted for its new version of the anti-energy bill by a 235 to 181 margin. The bill contains some version of nearly all the bad stuff already passed by the Senate or the House.

Although it contains provisions to raise gasoline and auto prices supported by President Bush, it also has titles to raise electricity prices and oil company taxes that the president opposes. Thus the Office of Management and Budget sent out a Statement of Administration Policy threatening a veto.

The Senate majority leadership is rumored to be trying to get the new House bill to the floor quickly for a vote. It will take sixty votes to invoke cloture and proceed to a final vote.  The Senate passed its earlier version of the anti-energy by a 63 to 31 vote, but it did not contain the fifteen per cent renewable portfolio standard for utilities.

The RPS would raise electricity prices considerably in southern and mideast States, so has generated significant opposition from Senators from those States. My guess is that the bill cannot get the sixty votes needed for cloture unless the RPS is taken out.