Brian4Liberty
10-14-2009, 04:58 PM
What is going into the Cap and Trade Bill?
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Cap and Trade Mystery
There seems to be some mystery and controversy surrounding the contents of the Cap and Trade Bill being drafted by Barbara Boxer's staff. What is being slipped into this legislation? Special favors to insider lobbyists? More taxpayer money redistributed to Wall Street?
Excerpts from a recent article:
Boxer Loses Key Committee Staffer, Cap-And-Trade Expert
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN of ClimateWire
Published: October 6, 2009
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is hemorrhaging staff as it faces a critical test in the coming weeks to pass a comprehensive global warming bill.
One of the country's leading experts on environmental legislation resigned Friday to join U.S. EPA as a senior counsel on climate and air pollution issues.
...
Neither Goffman nor Boxer's office would comment on the personnel move, leaving some to question why someone with such a high degree of experience would make such a jump during a critical moment in the legislative debate over one of the Obama administration's top agenda items.
"It'd be very odd for the chief health care person to leave the Health Committee or the Finance Committee a couple weeks before they were supposed to mark up their bill," said one Senate Democratic staffer. "That's just strange."
...
The staff departures come during a particularly tough stretch for Boxer, the three-term senator who is up for re-election next year. Boxer has repeatedly come under fire from Republicans and some moderate Democrats for how she has handled the drafting of the climate bill.
Several Democratic aides complained last week that they had not been given a chance to review the latest version of Boxer's cap-and-trade bill until Sunday, Sept. 29, just two days before the public introduction. And even then, staffers say they were not allowed to leave the committee room with their own copies of the bill.
Many said their first chance to review the proposal in any meaningful way came when the proposal leaked to the media just before last Wednesday's introduction. And some are questioning whether the small circle of people who worked on the complex bill may be contributing to errors and other inconsistencies in the early draft.
...
And some complained that Boxer did not listen to their concerns even after repeated attempts for help from moderate Democrats who represent states with heavy supplies of coal, oil and natural gas.
...
This year, Boxer has handed over top billing on the climate legislation to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) even though it is her staff that took the lead in writing the key pieces of their bill (pdf). Boxer will remain a central figure as her committee votes on the bill, perhaps as early as this month.
http://septvote.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Cap and Trade Mystery
There seems to be some mystery and controversy surrounding the contents of the Cap and Trade Bill being drafted by Barbara Boxer's staff. What is being slipped into this legislation? Special favors to insider lobbyists? More taxpayer money redistributed to Wall Street?
Excerpts from a recent article:
Boxer Loses Key Committee Staffer, Cap-And-Trade Expert
By DARREN SAMUELSOHN of ClimateWire
Published: October 6, 2009
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is hemorrhaging staff as it faces a critical test in the coming weeks to pass a comprehensive global warming bill.
One of the country's leading experts on environmental legislation resigned Friday to join U.S. EPA as a senior counsel on climate and air pollution issues.
...
Neither Goffman nor Boxer's office would comment on the personnel move, leaving some to question why someone with such a high degree of experience would make such a jump during a critical moment in the legislative debate over one of the Obama administration's top agenda items.
"It'd be very odd for the chief health care person to leave the Health Committee or the Finance Committee a couple weeks before they were supposed to mark up their bill," said one Senate Democratic staffer. "That's just strange."
...
The staff departures come during a particularly tough stretch for Boxer, the three-term senator who is up for re-election next year. Boxer has repeatedly come under fire from Republicans and some moderate Democrats for how she has handled the drafting of the climate bill.
Several Democratic aides complained last week that they had not been given a chance to review the latest version of Boxer's cap-and-trade bill until Sunday, Sept. 29, just two days before the public introduction. And even then, staffers say they were not allowed to leave the committee room with their own copies of the bill.
Many said their first chance to review the proposal in any meaningful way came when the proposal leaked to the media just before last Wednesday's introduction. And some are questioning whether the small circle of people who worked on the complex bill may be contributing to errors and other inconsistencies in the early draft.
...
And some complained that Boxer did not listen to their concerns even after repeated attempts for help from moderate Democrats who represent states with heavy supplies of coal, oil and natural gas.
...
This year, Boxer has handed over top billing on the climate legislation to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) even though it is her staff that took the lead in writing the key pieces of their bill (pdf). Boxer will remain a central figure as her committee votes on the bill, perhaps as early as this month.
http://septvote.blogspot.com/