As Rats Are to Sinking Ships
So Democrats are to Obama:
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus said today that he has “serious reservations” about a major global warming bill and warned fellow Democrats to water down the measure in hopes of getting it through the Senate.
Speaking at the start of an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing where he is the second highest-ranking member, the Montana Democrat said he wanted to weaken the bill’s 2020 target for greenhouse gas emissions — now 20 percent below 2005 levels. He did not name a specific midterm target for the heat-trapping gases, instead telling reporters he hoped for “some modification.”
The six-term senator also said he hoped to attach pre-emption language to the Senate climate bill, S. 1733 (pdf), that stops U.S. EPA from implementing a 2007 Supreme Court opinion that opens the door to new greenhouse gas emission standards on industry.
“We cannot avoid a first step that takes us further away from an achievable consensus from common-sense climate change legislation,” Baucus said. “We could build that consensus here in this committee. If we don’t, we risk wasting another month, another year, another Congress, without taking a step forward to our future.”
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Specter, who faces a tough Democratic primary race next year, pushed back against committee Republicans who warned about the dire economic consequences that would come from passing the Senate climate bill.
“We’re all concerned about job loss,” Specter said, adding that he hopes to work on legislation that can win the backing of industry, environmentalists and labor groups like the United Mine Workers of America.
Like Baucus, Specter said he is looking to change the Senate bill’s 2020 emission targets, but he refused to go far in sizing up what is needed to win his vote.
Cap-and-trade is crapped-out and dead. Latest head-counts show both the House and Senate short of votes for a public option in health care reform. I know it’s too early, and I know the Obama administration fights dirty, but it’s feeling like fourth-and-goal—and a goal line stand would change momentum, perhaps for good.
Be interesting to see how Hillary reacts to any possible defeats of key Obama initiatives. She’s one rat too smart to go down with the ship.