Weekly Political Roundup – Falling Dominoes
Posted January 22, 2010 at 12:43 pm 
Filed in: Republican Scott Brown’s upset Senate win in the quintessential Blue State of Massachusetts has Democrats fretting about the state of their stalled agenda and now-hemorrhaging majority. Energy security hawk, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who recently announced his retirement, speculated Tuesday that the costly (not just in terms of price tag) health care proposal has drained Democrats to the point that the contentious climate issue will be set aside. E&E has the story:
“‘It’s my assessment that we will not do a climate bill, but that we will do an energy bill instead,’ Dorgan said. ‘The energy bill will be climate-friendly.’ ‘The energy bill was passed in June by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a bipartisan vote. It includes a requirement for utilities to increase the amount of renewable energy to generate power, along with a provision by Dorgan to expand offshore drilling. Democratic leaders had planned to partner it to climate provisions being handled by other committees.”
“Dorgan is among a number of moderate Democrats and Republicans who have, for months, urged Reid and President Obama to shift to a stand-alone energy bill this year, given the economic recession and election-year politics. But Reid said he would stick to his long-held plan for moving a much broader measure that follows the House, which narrowly adopted a comprehensive climate and energy package last June. Reid did not offer more specifics on the Senate schedule for the measure except to repeat plans for debate early this year.”
The day following Brown’s victory, E&E reported on the falling dominoes:
“Several influential moderate Democrats made it clear today that they would prefer a near-term focus on jobs and economic recovery rather than dive too deep into the comprehensive global warming and energy legislation. But Senate Democratic leaders insisted that they would not be making any rash decisions to shift their legislative strategy in the wake of last night’s stunning Republican victory in a Massachusetts special election.”
And you know something’s in the air, so to speak, when California’s senior senator is managing expectations: “‘I think it’s clear from the hiatus that a large cap-and-trade bill isn’t going to go ahead at this time,’ said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) offered this post-election energy reality check: “‘We’re more dependent on foreign oil than ever, and last night didn’t change that,’ Graham said. ‘We didn’t find one more barrel of oil in America last night. We didn’t drill offshore last night. We didn’t build one nuclear power plant last night. And if you want to do those things, drill offshore, have more nuclear power and clean up the air, it’s going to take senators and congressmen doing something.’”
Reuters reported that the more vulnerable, though less independent, House majority is also shifting strategy on climate and energy legislation, even after having narrowly passed cap-and-trade last year. There must be some growling Blue Dogs, who spilled blood for what now appears to be a fruitless vote.
“Cap-and-trade legislation pending in Congress may be split in two to ensure that parts that encourage the use of more alternative energy sources can pass the Senate now that Democrats control one less seat, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Wednesday. Elements that limit carbon emissions may be handled separately now that Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat that was formerly held by a Democrat, Hoyer said.
“‘We ought not to let one be the victim to the other, if you will,’ he said. ‘I think we can move ahead on energy independence, I’m hopeful we can move ahead on the CO2 issue as well but I don’t want to have one be the victim of saying we can’t do one without the other.”
There are rumblings that, should House Democrats retain a slimmer majority this fall, surviving members might be clamoring for the more ideological Speaker Pelosi to surrender the gavel to the more pragmatic Hoyer.
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