With the election looming and energy policy taking center stage in the run up to November 4th, partisan politics are too heated to advance any real compromise energy bill, says the bipartisan Senate "Gang of 20."
Politico and E&E News both report that the Senate Gang of 10 20 agreed to punt on their "all of the above" energy proposal until after the election. With the election looming and energy policy taking center stage in the run up to November 4th, partisan politics are too heated to advance any real compromise, a spokesman for Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of the group's leaders told E&E ($ub req.)
"The thinking here is that the partisanship in Congress is stifling the debate we need to have on this. It is just too close to the presidential elections," said spokesman [for Sen. Conrad], Chris Thorne. Instead, Thorne said, the group plans to release a "statement of understanding" next week and then push actual legislation at a later time.
On Wednesday, the House passed a "compromise" energy bill similar to the proposal released by the bipartisan Senate "Gang" in August. The House bill would open up new offshore areas to drilling if states chose to opt in, reform oil tax subsidies, and require electric utilities to produce more renewable energy (more details here).
With the House bill including more expansive drilling provisions than the original Gang of 10 proposal and a broader tax incentive package heading for a vote next week in the Senate that would include the renewable energy tax incentives supported by the group, the Gang of 20 is now adjusting their proposal.
"We don't want to be to the left of Nancy Pelosi," Sen. John Thune (R-SD) told E&E on Wednesday. "There definitely is a belief that we are victims of our own success. We have so successfully redefined the debate on drilling that now our proposal is going to have to be a bit more expansive to be able to garner the votes that are necessary," Thune said.
According to E&E, the Gang is planning to pare back the scope of the revenue and spending proposal - probably into the $20 billion range, rather than the original $80 billion proposal outlined in August - leaving much of the original financial proposals for the Senate tax extender package. The revised plan, which group members eventually hope to introduce as a formal bill after the election, will also contain more expansive offshore drilling than originally envisioned, said Chris Thorne.
It seems the energy debate is continuing to shift and evolve, but that the prospects are slim that a real compromise bill will pass out of the Senate before it adjourns this month to let members hit the campaign trail.
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