Darren Samuelsohn reports cap and trade backers are 15 Senate votes short of the 60 needed for passage.
According to Samuelsohn's article, the Senate count stands at 45 yes or probably yes, 32 no, and 23 fence sitters:
To start, there are 45 senators in the "yes" or "probably yes" camp, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Maine Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.
There are 23 fence sitters. Alaska's Mark Begich (D) and Lisa Murkowski (R) need to keep their home state's oil and gas interests in mind, while Ohio's Sherrod Brown (D) and Michigan Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow are pressing for provisions that help agriculture and their state's ailing manufacturing and auto industries.
There are also 32 Republicans who are unlikely to vote for a climate bill of the shape and size that Obama and congressional Democratic leaders envision, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Missouri Sen. Kit Bond and Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, an outspoken skeptic about the link between man-made greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Have things change so much since the 1990's? Back then, the House approved President Clinton's energy tax, also known as the BTU tax. That vote was as close as Friday's on the Democrats' cap and trade energy tax:
In 1993, the legislation containing the Clinton energy tax was adopted on a 219-to-213 vote with 38 Democrats defecting. On Friday, the House bill was approved 219 to 212, with 44 Democrats defecting.
Clinton's energy tax didn't pass the senate and the Democrats lost the senate in the following election.
The whole point of both Clinton's BTU energy tax and the current cap and trade energy tax is to price fossil fuels out of the market. Imposing higher energy costs on our economy, costs which don't apply to economic competitors such as China and India, does not make sense for a struggling economy facing Obama's out of control spending, higher taxes and ever growing multi-trillion dollar deficits.
In 1997 the Senate unanimously passed, 95–0, the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing nations as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States." Byrd-Hagel prevented Clinton from even trying to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which also would have put the U.S. economy at an economic disadvantage to China and India.
Have things really changed so since the 1990s that the U.S. Senate would vote to give our economic competitors an advantage?
President Obama hasn't even tried to wiggle out of his admissions that under his cap and trade plan electricity rates will skyrocket and would bankrupt anyone who builds a coal-powered plant.
Have things really changed so much that the Senate would vote cause electricity rates to skyrocket and to bankrupt anyone who builds a coal powered plant?
Comments
We will see in this vote which of our Senators are for the good of America and its people, or which are good for their home states only with what bacon they can bring home.
There are many times in life where not bringing home all the bacon was a better choice.
WE can read how the congresscritters were bought off! I hope the Senate is a better place.
I'm at a loss for words to describe how foolish this bill really is. Politicians make poor scientists at best, and it is they who are seriously considering a progrm that will cost billons and have absolutely no impact on our climate. We can impact climate on earth as much as we can impact the brillance of our nearest star.
Well, the US Congress has passed it, and of course the larger battle looms in the Senate, but what will this legislation mean for the US economy? Is it the beginning of a new era of prosperity, or the beginning of the end it?
Here's a story:
www.newsy.com/videos/climate_bill_heats_up_congress
I hate to tell you but the taxpayers are against this measure by a clear majority. So thinking that anyone who votes against it has been bought off is ridiculous. It is based on scare tactics of unproven science; even Greenpeace says it effects will be minimal. EPA unit report was suppressed because President politically against it's findings. So much for transparency; rather the "hope for change" at any cost; the communist agenda lives
I love the history of the USA. I am afraid now. It is evident we have been taken over from within. I operate a small business. I am observing empty facilities all over our great land. This sucks. We need a coup of our own but I am so very aware of the lack of will. We are too divided and awash of many new comers with lack of and care for the basics to continue. It has been a great ride though. USA helps more down trodden than all nations combined. What a shame no recognition. Vote 2010 is our last slogan?
The fact that this hasn't already been a unanimous shut down in the senate really makes me want to cry... What happened to that whole, "we the people" thing? I think it got turned into, "I, the people"... It seriously makes me want to cry that these people can be so selfish over such a meaningless topic. Gore+Pelosi+Obama=one big selfish political agenda. If people seriously can't put those three names together without at least scratching their heads, then I'm scared to see where this country is going.
Let's just hope at least 9 of those votes are nay!
This is a negligent bill that will produce the next asset bubble to thieve from the American public. Win for Goldman Sachs and lose for American middle class.
I've heard two congressmen make the comment that they supported this bill in the house because it protected the air we breath. What is so pathetic about the narrow passage in the house is that these congressmen didn't even know what the hoax is about.
See Leonard Boswell cap and trade townhall on youtube
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!