ENERGY BILL INSIDE BASEBALL

This article not only reports Speaker Pelosi’s admission she and Senate Leader Reid will forego the conference committee process (ENERGY BILL TO BE SETTLED W/SECRET TALKS) but contains delicious material about attitudes and plans. The rumor is THERE MAY NOT EVEN BE an energy bill and whatever provisions the Democratic leaders seek may be attached to an omnibus spending bill or a farm bill!

NewEnergyNews predicts Minority Leader Boehner’s nasty characterization of the Democrats’ strategy will catch on: “[Their decision is the] OPEC approach to energy policy: meet in secret, restrict supplies and jack up prices."

Energy bill could take route that avoids committee; Democrats may square 2 versions on their own
David Ivanovich, October 11, 2007 (Houston Chronicle)

WHO
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., energy industry lobbyists

Reid knows where to look for bipartisanship in Washington. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Republicans and Democrats predictably blamed one another for the impasse that led to the controversial decision by Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to avoid the bipartisan conference committee process and privately work out details of the energy bill to be put before the House of Representatives and the Senate.

WHEN
The Senate version of the bill was passed at the end of June, the House version at the end of July. Pelosi reported the decision not to conference on October 11. She says he bill itself will be presented before the end of the year.

WHERE
The bill must be passed by both houses before it can be sent to President Bush.

WHY
- A failure of agreement on the details of the energy bill would make a conference committee process too contentious.
- The House passed a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) mandating the production of 15% of US electricity from renewables by a 2020. Senate Republicans are adamantly opposed to an RES.
- The Senate passed a new auto mileage standard requirement. House Democrats are split on it and House Republicans oppose it.
- The House pushed through $16 billion in tax reallocations away from fossil fuels and in support of renewable energies which the Senate rejected.
- Energy lobbyists on both sides agree the Pelosi/Reid decision is the only way forward, especially because Dingell’s position on auto fuel efficiency splits the Democrats in the House.

The kind of inside baseball they play in politics.

QUOTES
- Pelosi: "Unfortunately ... it doesn't appear that we will be able to get a conference…But ... that doesn't mean we won't be going forward."
- Boehner: “[The decision is the] OPEC approach to energy policy: meet in secret, restrict supplies and jack up prices."
- Domenici: "…the only way to pass an energy bill that will have a chance at final passage is through a bipartisan conference committee."