<<Back to Article National Association of Government Contractors www.governmentcontractors.org Senators debut second climate bill Sep 30, 2009 Senate leaders proposed a new cap-and-trade bill this week, building on existing legislation designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that has already been voted through by the House of Representatives. Former presidential candidate John Kerry joined forces with California senator Barbara Boxer to introduce the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, putting further pressure on Congress to pass legislation on carbon emissions before the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen this December. The proposed legislation is similar to the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which was introduced by House representatives Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, who hail from the same states as Kerry and Boxer. However, the Waxman-Markey bill aimed for a reduction of 17 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 on 2005 levels, while the Senate bill is more ambitious in the medium term, calling for a 20 per cent reduction by 2020 while mirroring the House bill's longer-term goal of an 83 per cent reduction by 2050. The Boxer-Kerry bill also proposes increased support for the nuclear energy sector, in a move that seems designed to secure backing from senators concerned about the potential impact of the legislation on traditional energy sources. Like the House bill, however, it also remains vague about the mechanisms for distributing greenhouse gas emission allowances under the proposed cap-and-trade scheme, setting no guidance on the extent to which emission allowances should be auctioned or distributed for free. This could be key to the passage of the bill, which will have to pass rocky political territory. Congressmen from states with heavy interests in coal and other fossil fuels will be weighing its goals against their own constituents' interests. An aide to senator Boxer said that a number of issues, such as whether allowances should be auctioned, whether carbon tariffs should be introduced and whether there should be a price cap on carbon allowances, had been deliberately left out of the first draft in order to give Boxer and Kerry bargaining chips as they seek to build support for the legislation. However, the bill is likely to face strong opposition from the Republicans, especially as senator Olympia Snowe appears to have opted out from backing it. The House bill was passed on June 26, and is now making its way through the Senate, but the passage of the legislation has been troubled. The bill barely scraped through the House with just over the required 50 per cent of the vote, and has faced a series of delays in the Senate as Democrats have pushed back a vote while they focus on trying to pass the Obama administration's controversial healthcare reforms. The healthcare debate is also likely to impact the chances of a full vote being secured on the Boxer-Kerry bill ahead of the Copenhagen summit. Boxer has said she is aiming to present a second draft of the bill within the next two to three weeks and then move through committee votes. But the timing of a final vote on the Senate floor will be dependent on whether Senate majority leader Harry Reid is prepared for a second major vote following the battle to get healthcare reform passed. Article URL: http://www.governmentcontractors.org/articles/a.914.asp © Copyright 2005-2008 The National Association of Government Contractors