Posted on 04/08/2011 3:27:48 PM PDT by Qbert
An evolving deal to avoid a government shutdown would include a study of the economic effect of environmental regulations rather than Republican riders to block EPA rules on climate change and mountaintop mining, senior Senate Democrats and a key House Republican say.
That would be a major victory for Democrats and environmental groups who have been fighting to keep policy riders on a host of regulations out of any deal.
“EPA riders as proposed by the House will not be included,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters. He said the deal could include a study instead.
“It’s one of the proposals. It isn’t all done until it’s all done,” he said.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told POLITICO she believes the deal would be to study the economic costs of environmental regulations.
“It sets up a study committee — across the board, government, everybody’s sitting at the table looking at the impact of these regulations, EPA and Commerce. But we’re looking at it now,” she said. “There are no riders involving EPA. That is my understanding, period, and when I say my understanding, it is because there is no deal final. But at this stage, there are no riders.”
The study could end up echoing legislation from Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and John Sullivan (R-Okla.) that would require an interagency committee to analyze the cumulative impacts of several EPA rules “in an effort to better understand how these policies are impacting America’s global economic competitiveness, electricity and fuel prices, employment and reliability of electricity supply,” according to an April 4 statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton.
The analysis in the Matheson-Sullivan bill would include the cumulative impacts of EPA’s rules on consumers, small businesses, state, local and tribal governments, labor markets and agriculture.
Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, told POLITICO he has also “heard there was a study for costs, but we’re still pushing our greenhouse gas bill.”
On EPA greenhouse gas riders, he said, "All I know is, it's not an issue anymore. I guess that means it's not being pushed or that it was changed in some way that was acceptable."
Greenhouse gas restrictions are “not in the budget,” he added. "I think it's just dollar amounts is my understanding."
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said House Republicans on Thursday brought up the issue of EPA mountaintop mining rules but that since fell off the table. “They’ve apparently backed off of that,” said the North Dakota Democrat.
Boxer said there was “a lot of talks” initially about riders dealing with greenhouse gases “but I think the fact that we had our votes and they did so badly, they dropped it.”
A Republican plan to block EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions Wednesday received support from 50 senators, less than the 60 to overcome a filibuster and the 67 to defeat a promised presidential veto. A similar plan easily passed the GOP-controlled House on Thursday.
There was then word, Boxer said, “they would do something on mountaintop mining removal, … then apparently they walked away from that because that would have been very unpopular. I think, and that would have actually repealed some sections of the Clean Water Act, so they backed off.”
Robin Bravender and Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 3:12 p.m. on April 8, 2011.
The Stupid Party's about to do it again...
What did the lawmakers axe them?.....and what was their answer?
That's because the Repubs are going to get the vast majority of the cuts they want. LOL.
I understand the frustration, but the facts have been against the Pubbies from the start. That they are getting anything should be looked at as a gain, rather than insisting on the original proposal as the mark and everything after that a loss. You’ll just drive yourself crazy otherwise.
I mean, it really is a shame that the fascists at the EPA can continue to hector and micromanage businesses, but do you think that this will improve Democratic election chances in 2012? Will having seen this problem be escalated and knowing that Pubs wanted to release business from the stranglehold of fascists be something good for Dem chances? I can’t see that. Now, if the Pubs don’t keep bringing this up, then you really have a point because the gain of having made this something on the public radar, by not insisting at every turn on it, they will waste the gain.
So, it should also be a part of the Ryan package. It should be in the 2012/13 budget. Pubs should run on reining in fascist government in 2012. That’s what I want.
Setting up expectations for the next big fight, the 2012 budget. I think we conservatives should be quite happy with how this is playing out. We will not get everything, let’s wait and see what is in the final package.
You are dreaming all right.
The only thing “we” are getting is the shaft - without the defunding of the EPA & some movement on defunding PP, then we achieve nothing at all.
> We will not get everything, let’s wait and see what is in the final package.
Its quite clear - almost nothing at all.
Nonsense. We get cuts in what was supposed to be a Dem budget.
Not only that...the bigger picture is that we get to move on to hearings over the 2012 budget...and those are going to reap much larger fruit.
Oh, I totally agree. I'm just commenting on the status right now and trying comfort a feller Freeper who seems despondent about the prospects. Reality is that the political game goes on and everything that has come up in this debacle has worked to improve Republican status and degrade Democrats. The latter are now so firmly linked to abortion that it isn't even remarkable to note them as the Party of Death. They have embraced their destiny and I for one am overjoyed to hang it around their necks like the albatross. May they float on the seas of oblivion forever.
The EPA is going to destroy our economy, and letting them get their way on this single issue is a major defeat for the Tea Party, republicans and productive Americans.
If Planned Parenthood was the only thing holding it up then why the heck is Bonehead axing the EPA rider?
It's disgusting, and all of these politicians should be tarred, feathered and run out of D.C., IMO.
Most likely due to the fact that the EPA rider was already axed prior to the standoff over PP.
“Not only that...the bigger picture is that we get to move on to hearings over the 2012 budget...and those are going to reap much larger fruit.”
Are they??
What happens when the unions march in the streets, and we get “Paul Ryan= Hitler” signs and death threats, “kids being forced to eat out of garbage cans”, “ etc., etc. over the 2012 budget?
Why should I trust anybody who can’t stand up in a minor fight like this one?
The GOP is giving up the farm.
The Dems couldn’t even get this passed in the Senate because they knew it was so politically toxic (and Cap and Tax barely passed in the House). We have an opportunity to make tons of “moderate” Dems choke on this, and pay the price in 2012, and instead the GOP appears to be throwing this away... for nothing.
Beyond stupid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.