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Greetings!
Please enjoy today's issue of the Congressional Climate newsletter, brought to you by Keys to the Capitol! |
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Today's Hill Action:
THE SENATE:
The Senate convenes at 11:30 a.m. ET, with morning business lasting until 1:30. The Senate will then resume consideration of H.R.3326, Defense appropriations. At 4:30, the Senate will debate the nomination of Jeffrey Viken to be United States District Judge Judge for the District of South Dakota, with a vote on the nomination at 5:30.
SENATE COMMITTEES:
Senate Environment and Public Works (9:30 a.m.): Subcommittee on Children's Health - Hearings to examine promoting and improving children's health protections. SD-406.
Senate Finance (9:30 a.m.): Business meeting to resume consideration of an original bill entitled America's Healthy Future Act of 2009. SH-216.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (10 a.m.): Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight - Hearings to examine improving transparency and accessibility of federal contracting databases. SD-342.
Senate Appropriations (10 a.m.): Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government - To resume hearings to examine the use, impact, and accomplishments of Federal appropriations provided to improve the education of children in the District of Columbia. SD-192.
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (2 p.m.): Hearings to examine strengthening and streamlining Prudential Bank supervision. SD-538 .
Senate Judiciary (2:30 p.m.): Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs - Hearings to examine body building products and hidden steroids, focusing on enforcement barriers. SD-226.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (5:30 p.m.): Business meeting to consider the nominations of Richard Serino, of Massachusetts, to be Deputy Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, and Daniel I. Werfel, of Virginia, to be Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, Office of Management and Budget. S-216 .
THE HOUSE:
The House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2:00 for legislative business, with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m.
House Transportation and Infrastructure (2 p.m.): Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subc. On the economic status of the Hurricane Katrina infrastructure logjam. 2167 RHOB.
House Appropriations (6:15 p.m.): CONFERENCE. On the FY 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Act. HC-5 Capitol.
House Judiciary (4 p.m.): Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subc. On the Crime Victims Rights Act. 2141 RHOB.
House Oversight and Government Reform (2 p.m.): On the administration's flu vaccine program focusing on health, safety, and distribution. 2154 RHOB. |
Senate General Aviation Caucus Hoping to "Take Off":
Unlike the House, where just about every Member belongs to a handful of caucuses, the Senate is not known for its clubs or formal groups.
But two newcomers - Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) - seem to be ignoring that custom with their newly formed General Aviation Caucus.
"The goal of the caucus is to work with pilots, aircraft owners, the aviation industry, and relevant government agencies to insure a safe and vibrant environment exists for General Aviation (GA) in America," according to a Begich press release.
Begich and Johanns, first-termers who represent largely rural states, circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter on Monday in an attempt to boost their membership roster, noting that their caucus "will educate members and staff on aviation issues and will provide a forum for discussion with leaders in the aviation community."
The House has the Bourbon Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Out of Iraq Caucus, to name just a few of the about 275 groups that exist and are overseen by the House Administration Committee. The Senate, however, has no exhaustive list of caucuses, and records on the matter are scattered and rare.
"The House is a larger body, and there's a strength in numbers in the House, and there's a lot of caucuses that form," Senate Historian Don Ritchie said. "The Senate is a bit more individualistic."
Begich spokeswoman Julie Hasquet said the General Aviation Caucus, which draws attention to a rural issue that affects a host of other states, will help her boss push an important agenda that might otherwise get lost in the legislative shuffle.
"They just saw this as an opportunity to promote an issue important to their states," Hasquet said.
KTC |
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Congress Attempts to Wrap Up Appropriations: 
With the end of the fiscal year quickly approaching on Sept. 30, congressional leaders plan to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep government agencies funded through the end of October and allow additional time for appropriations work to continue. Although not a guarantee, the additional time should allow Congress to finish its appropriations work, preventing the need for an omnibus spending bill before the end of the year.
The FY 2010 appropriations process will consume Congress over the coming weeks, as both chambers work to complete the government's twelve annual spending bills and pass them on to the president for his signature. The House moved quickly in 2009 and passed all of its appropriations measures before the August recess. Alternatively, the Senate passed only four spending bills before leaving Washington for the summer. Having completed two more appropriations bills since the break, the upper chamber still has six spending bills to pass and then must reach agreement with the House on a compromise version for each of those bills.
The only appropriations legislation that has successfully passed both chambers and been reconciled is the bill funding the legislative branch. The House agreed to the conference report, which includes the text of the (CR), on Sept. 25 and the Senate is likely to pass the conference report the week of Sept. 28, before the end of the fiscal year.
KTC
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Senate Climate Bill Tougher Than House Version: 
A Senate climate bill will require a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2020, deeper than the reductions mandated by the House, according to a draft of the bill.
The draft remains subject to change. But the overall carbon reduction requirements are expected to stand. The Democratic bill is to be released Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with a vote by the panel likely in late October.
The draft includes an economy-wide cap and trade system that would require power plants, industrial facilities and refineries to cut carbon dioxide and other climate changing pollution. But it does not lay out how emission allowances would be distributed, leaving that for later. The bill is viewed widely as an early focus of Senate negotiations.
The 684-page draft calls for a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions beginning in three years, to be tightened annually so that emissions would be 20 percent lower in 2020 than they were in 2005. Emissions would have to be 83 percent lower by 2050. While the long term cuts are the same as required by the House in June, the Senate bill requires a faster early ramp-up, something many in industry had wanted to avoid. The House called for a 17 percent emission cut by 2020 and President Barrack Obama originally had sought only a 14 percent cut.
But Democratic aides involved in crafting the bill, said the legislation also includes measures that would make early reductions requirements easier to achieve. Also, they argued that information released since the House acted shows carbon dioxide emissions in the United States today already are 6 percent lower than what they were in 2005, a reduction attributed largely to the economic recession.
The Democratic bill will be co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the environment committee's chairman, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., two of the Senate's strongest advocates for aggressive action to counter global warming.
But the bill to be unveiled Wednesday is viewed by both supporters and opponents of climate legislation as largely a starting point in what is expected to be intense and difficult negotiations in the Senate.
Republicans, with the exception of a few, have voiced strong opposition to cap-and-trade climate legislation calling it a massive energy tax on consumers as energy prices increase amid the shift away from fossil fuels. And many centrist Democrats - especially from rural areas and from states with energy intensive industries - have expressed reluctance to support any bill that does not protect against energy cost spikes and protect domestic industries.
The Senate draft does not spell out how emission allowances will be distributed, leaving one of the most contentious issues to further negotiations. The House would provide for free 85 percent of emission allowances to various industries, especially electric utilities to help reduce the cost to consumers.
Democratic aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because the bill had not yet been released, said it would include measures to benefit the nuclear industry and for the natural gas producers - both attempts to garner broader support.
Unlike the House version, the Senate draft does not prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the existing Clean Air Act. Democrats wanting a bill this year have used the argument that if Congress doesn't act, the EPA will.
KTC
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Until tomorrow,
Keys To The Capitol |
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