10/26/2009
The Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), will begin hearings next week on climate-change legislation authored by Boxer and Senator John Kerry (D.-Mass.). The panel will hear from several Obama Cabinet secretaries, including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Boxer has said she will schedule a markup after next week’s hearings. Kerry, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, previously has indicated he wants to markup the bill by the end of November.
While the odds of climate-change legislation making it to the Senate floor this year are well under 50 percent, Kerry said on Oct. 22 that he would press on with negotiations in order to keep the issue ripe for next year. “I can’t tell you exactly when we’re going to have a vote, but we’re serious about this,” he said.
“They have not reached agreement with coal-state senators, believe me,” said Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman John Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.). Other panels with jurisdiction on the bill include the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate Agriculture Committee, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee.
Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he will hold hearings on the climate-change bill before Thanksgiving. The Finance panel has jurisdiction over key provisions of the measure — including the allocation of billions of dollars’ worth of allowances and a carbon tariff that would tax imports from nations that do not regulate carbon emissions.
Senate Ag Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) also is planning to look at the plan. "We hope to have several more hearings, at least a couple more hearings in the Agriculture Committee," she said in early October.
Kerry will meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Oct. 26 to work out a timetable for committee and possible Senate action on the measure.