The answer, apparently, is doing their jobs.*
After close to two months of doubt at whether the White House and Congressional Dems were up to tackling yet another major progressive policy priority, some serious rumblings are being heard inside the beltway as President Obama and Majority Leader Reid begin sounding the clarion call for Senate passage of a comprehensive energy and climate bill.
Just days ago, President Obama told reporters at a news conference on the Gulf oil leak, "If nothing else this disaster should serve as a wake-up call that it's time to move forward with this legislation."
Yesterday, during a speech in Pittsburgh, the president laid out the case more fully. "The time has come to aggressively accelerate that transition," he said. "The time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future."
Specifically calling for a new carbon pricing system, Obama praised the House for the action they took last year and called on the Senate to do the same, declaring that, "the votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months."
Read the President's full remarks here.
Many were quick to criticize the White House for not seizing the moment sooner, but I've long argued that the Obama administration's legislative strategy often involves small, behind-the-scenes actions methodically done in preparation of the right time for major action. I think that time is upon us.
We've known for weeks that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has been meeting with remaining climate bill authors John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and that he had promised to meet with relevant committee chairs after returning from break, but Reid and Obama seem to be moving in lock-step now on the impetus of the crisis in the Gulf.
Earlier today, POLITICO reported on a letter Reid sent to eight committee chairs asking them to report any language they wanted considered as part of the energy and climate bill out before July 4th, setting the Senate up for floor debate in July. Reid also asked them to attach language dealing swiftly with "the existing situation [in the Gulf] and to reduce the risks of such a catastrophe happening again.” The bill is likely to include a lifting of the liability cap for oil companies, stricter oversight, and major reforms of the Mineral Management Service.
Kerry and Lieberman were quick to praise the move, but it should be mentioned that it is unclear whether their American Power Act would provide the framework for the bill or if Reid is looking to move in another direction.
That said, it seems clearer that the Senate will try to address our nation's energy crisis and global climate change this year. Now if we could just get that leak under control.
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*I say this with tongue in cheek as this Congress has already set itself apart as one of the most productive in U.S. history.
For background on this issue, see our earlier post here.
Details from the Washington Post:
"The heart of the agreement was Dodd's willingness to drop a proposed $50 billion fund, which would be filled upfront by the financial industry, that would cover the cost of closing down failing firms. Under the Dodd-Shelby deal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would liquidate faltering firms by borrowing money from Treasury to cover initial costs. The government would recover the costs by selling off the firm's assets, with creditors and shareholders incurring losses. Other large banks could be assessed to pay for additional costs as a last resort."
"Also, creditors of a failing firm would be forced to pay back the government any money they received above what they would have gotten under a bankruptcy proceeding. Any seizure of a large, failing firm would require court approval to ensure that the government not shut down a company inappropriately. In addition, Congress would have to approve the use of federal debt guarantees, and regulators also would be able to ban management and directors of failed firms from working in the financial sector for a minimum of two years."
By: Jordan Young
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made waves today after laying out the Senate's schedule for the next seven weeks. His statement that comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) would not be a top floor priority for this work period was pounced on by many in the media, who portrayed it as a flip-flop from his declarative statements over the weekend to a crowd of reform supporters. "We're going to come back, we're going to have comprehensive immigration reform now," Reid said. "We need to do this this year. We cannot wait."
Media outlets seemed taken aback today when Reid said, "We won't get to immigration reform this work period." The New York Times called it a retreat. Talking Points Memo said Reid had "dashed [reformers] hopes."
This meme seems a bit dramatic to me. Reid's first statement was certainly breaking news. He endorsed tackling CIR this year, which was far from a certainty before. He promised to be working on it as soon as Congress returned from break, which they are. Chuck Schumer is still working on drafting the legislation, so, realistically, "working on" here means moving the bill forward toward the goal of passage later this year. It certainly didn't mean that Reid had a pre-written bill in his back pocket the Senate was going to vote on this week. And I don't really think CIR supporters thought it did mean that, so to say their hopes have been dashed seems a bit insulting to serious reformers' intelligence.
Reid's statement today was specifically about the Senate's legislative calendar for the next work period, meaning the period between now and the next recess in about seven weeks. The idea that CIR wasn't going to make it to the floor inside of seven weeks isn't really shocking news. It doesn't mean CIR is off the table. Reid's spokesman also said today, "Once a bill is drafted, we hope to get it on the floor as quickly as possible.”
Now, all of that said, the bigger news here is the calendar itself. Reid made clear that the priorities for this work period are financial regulatory reform, food safety regulations, energy and climate legislation, and post-Citizens United corporate-campaign reform. You can also tack onto the schedule for this year an overhaul on No Child Left Behind, which is up for consideration this summer, a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the Medicare SGR Fix, a long-term extenders bill, ratification of the new START treaty, the confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice, and, oh yeah, an ELECTION.
Reid's commitment to passing CIR during this Congress may or may not be realistic given this long list of priorities. Truthfully, it is difficult, though not impossible, to see the Senate getting all of these things done, even a fraction would be impressive. The number of check marks we could place on the progressive agenda would be staggering.
At any rate, this is shaping up to be a very interesting year to be in politics.
UPDATE -- The Immigration Policy Center has spoken to Reid's office and insists that there was no backsliding. His "staff has assured us that he intends to take on CIR in 2010.”
The importance of timely Congressional action on the extenders bill and a brief history of the Doc Fix.
By: Jordan Young
This afternoon, the Senate invoked cloture on a motion to begin debate on the Continuing Extension Act (H.R. 4851), the legislation to extend by a month Unemployment Insurance, COBRA subsidies, and federal flood insurance senators had left unfinished before skipping town for a two week recess at the end of March. Much has been written on the left and right about Senator Tom Coburn's (R-OK) effort to hold up the legislation unless it was offset by Recovery Act funds. To be frank, I don't think those who are counting on UI benefits or COBRA benefits give a damn about the political points being scored in that debate.
And neither will doctors who treat Medicare patients on Thursday, when this starts to affect them. The legislation also includes a one month extension of the Medicare SGR Fix. Commonly referred to as the "Doc Fix," this is essentially a case of Congress needing to clean up its own mess.
In 1997, Congress passed the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate which attempted to hold down Medicare costs by automatically cutting reimbursements to doctors when costs rose by too much. The problem was the SGR formula was based on an unrealistically low base cost, so for the last decade Congress has been passing temporary legislation every year or so to prevent those cuts from going into effect.
Come Thursday, without Congressional action, the CMS (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services) will be forced to begin releasing reimbursements to doctors at a staggering 21.2 percent cut.
So, Congress now has just a few days to debate and pass this legislation. Once they've done that, they really should think about passing a permanent fix to the SGR formula so Medicare recipients and the physicians who provide them care aren't held hostage to our broken legislative system on an annual basis.
