CALPUNDIT GETS RESULTS
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James Joyner | Friday, November 21, 2003 |
Following Kevin Drum’s criticism, the US Senate is apparently caving in:
Opponents today blocked a vote on the most far-reaching energy bill since 1992, but Republican leaders vowed to keep working on holdouts in order to allow a roll call before Congress’s scheduled adjournment for the year in the next few days.“This is too important for the American people to desert this,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) immediately after a GOP move to end debate on the measure failed on a vote of 57 to 40. Sixty votes are needed to end debate and bring a bill up for a regular roll call.
Republicans say the bill, which passed in the House on Tuesday, will increase domestic energy production, provide new incentives for renewable fuels, stimulate new investment in the overburdened electricity grid and create as many as 800,000 jobs. There are incentives in the bill to build $20 billion pipeline to carry Alaskan natural gas to the Midwest.
The bill also orders a doubling of production of ethanol fuel from corn, a top priority of farmers. Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), noting this, told the Senate that “the Democrats are leading a parade to kill the most important provision ever thought up for farmers.”
But 13 Democratic supporters, most of them from farm states, joined 44 Republicans in trying to bring the measure to a vote. At the same time, seven Republican opponents lined up with 32 Democrats and one Independent [My eye. -ed.] to block action.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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