Damned if They Do, Damned if They Don't? Dems Ponder a Filibuster-Proof Climate Bill

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http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/03/damned-if-they-do-damned-if-they-dont-dems-ponder-a-filibuster-proof-climate-bill.php

Damned if They Do, Damned if They Don't? Dems Ponder a Filibuster-Proof Climate Bill
By Elana Schor - March 12, 2009, 10:21AM


We first flagged this for you last week, but Democrats are facing a perilous choice on climate change this year: whether to tackle carbon emissions under "budget reconciliation" rules, which would shield the legislation from an all-but-assured GOP filibuster.

As the WSJ notes this morning, however, the argument for using reconciliation on climate change is as much due to opposition from Democrats as it is from Republicans. Senators from red-state centrist Max Baucus (D-MT) to rust-belt liberal Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are on record as unconvinced of the merits of cap-and-trade, so setting a 50-vote rather than 60-vote margin for passage is likely to make the difference between passing a bill and doing nothing.

The Senate environment committee's chairman, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), told TPMDC earlier this week that she's considering the reconciliation route, and a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told the WSJ that a final decision was "weeks" away.

But prominent GOP supporters of action on climate change, including John McCain (AZ) and Olympia Snowe (ME), have said that using reconciliation on the issue could torpedo climate change's prospects outright. Are Democrats damned if they do and damned if they don't? Stay tuned ...