March 16, 2010 4:45 PM

Dems Already Looking Ahead to the Next Fight: Climate Change

By
Stephanie Condon
Topics
Domestic Issues
climate change (Credit: AP)

The fate of President Obama's health care reform package is still up in the air, but he appears to be already taking on an equally challenging and contentious agenda item -- climate change legislation.

Former President Bill Clinton met with Senate Democrats today to talk about climate change, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer John Nolen reports. The visit follows a meeting in the White House last week Mr. Obama had with 14 senators, including six Republicans, according to Daily Beast columnist Richard Wolffe.

"The White House remains surprisingly confident that they will be able to pick off enough support from the opposition party to move forward on these major issues [including climate change], even in an election year," Wolffe writes.

Not all political analysts would agree the White House is ready to take up such an ambitious agenda item.

"Democrats have to turn to jobs and the economy to convince the American public they are doing things," Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg report said on CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged" today.

There is certainly room for bipartisan support on the issue, however. The Christian Coalition of America, founded by conservative televangelist Pat Robertson, supports climate change legislation and last week released a radio ad urging its supporters to call Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and encourage him to continue working on the issue.

"I've heard from so many Christian Coalition supporters that energy is one of the most important issues we face today," Christian Coalition President Roberta Combs says in the ad. "We've got to take the lead to explore energy alternatives and protect our national security."

Graham has been working with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft climate change legislation, but the task will prove even harder in the political environment the health care debate has created. Graham on Sunday slammed the president for pushing his health care agenda forward after failing to win any bipartisan support for it.

"If they do this, it's going to poison the well for anything else they would like to achieve this year or thereafter," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Climate change legislation could be especially hurt by the focus on horsetrading within the health care debate, Politico reports. For instance, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was lambasted for negotiating a deal with Senate leaders in which his state would be exempt from paying for any expansions of Medicaid -- a deal later dubbed the "Cornhusker Kickback."

Legislators will likely have to work out a number of such deals for climate change legislation, however, since energy and environmental policies impact different states and regions very differently. Alaska Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, for instance, is requesting tens of billions of dollars in assistance for his state to help it cope with melting sea ice and other damaging effects of climate change, Politico reports.

"There's no state that is affected like us, and for that not to be addressed will be a significant problem for me," Begich said.


Add a Comment
by asticklor March 18, 2010 11:27 AM EDT
The idea that the United States wouldn?t have bipartisan support for economic recovery, energy independence, increased national security, and clean air just isn?t realistic. Now that healthcare is being dealt with, President Obama is right to focus on climate change but not for its environmental implications ? rather for the many other benefits the United States will see. A comprehensive climate bill that limits greenhouse gas pollution will lead to job creation and sustainable, long term economic growth for the United States. It will give us the push we need to take a step forward in the global renewable energy industry and will boost our economy by providing Americans and American businesses with clean, domestic energy instead of sending all of our hard earned money overseas to fuel our oil addiction. Stuart Rothenberg is right ? right now we need to focus on our currently struggling economy which is exactly what we would be doing by passing a climate bill.
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by magnumdr March 17, 2010 8:07 AM EDT
Climate change should not even be an issue in these hard times, if it really exists. Stop wasting our tax dollars please.
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by sunday42 March 16, 2010 11:40 PM EDT
Let's see who's around after November. Maybe, just maybe the American people will see through this smog of bull crap and elect some folks that represent our views.
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by RobAla March 17, 2010 1:02 AM EDT
Amen to that thought.
by hateisafourletterword March 16, 2010 10:01 PM EDT
How to Bankrupt a Country in 2 Years or Less by Barak Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

First pass a monster health care bill that does nothing to contain costs and does cost $1 trillion over 10 years. And we all know how accurate these cost forecasts are right?

Second, pass cap and trade which will raise everyones utility costs, travel costs and living costs. So rather than becoming more competitive in the world, we will be less competetive.

See you in BK court soon USA!
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by pasmalltown March 16, 2010 10:16 PM EDT
And what do you think of the climate, oh enlightened one, for that is what this post is all about.... maybe the "BK" court will be closed because someone forgot to pay the electric bill???? Wait a minute, Pat Robertson is behind the push for this climate change bill, maybe he can lead us all out of the darkeness.......
by hateisafourletterword March 17, 2010 12:03 AM EDT
Ah, we installed artificial grass to reduce our water usage. I am buying a Prius now that the prices are getting reasonable - you see I know how to put a car in neutral and do not want to sue a large company for my stupidity.

Gee, who did you vote for in the 2000 Presidential election? Let me guess. You voted for the guy who lives in a mansion that uses 20 times the electricity of the average home. The same guy who flies the world over in private jets. The same guy in the limo. The same guy in the yacht. You know the guy who cares oh so much about his checkbook, I mean the environment. The same guy who was awarded both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award.

I voted for the guy who lived on a small ranch with a home using geo-thermal energy (friendly to the environment) with a pickup run by CNG (better for the environment) and using recycled rain water (to not only save ground water supplies but also reduce energy consumption needed to pump water). No Academy Awards. No Nobel Prize. Just happens to live the life the guy you voted for preaches about that is all.

So please take your life and deal with it loser.
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by KeithDrippingSprings March 16, 2010 6:12 PM EDT
The thieves and Scoundrels (our legislators) will work out a way for this climate change bill to pass just like the other crap they do in Washington. Trading favors, that is called graft and corruption by most of us. Of course we just don't understand politics, the people don't know what is best for them.

Notice how they changed the name from Global Warming to Climate Change. I remember back in the seventies when the same educated idiots were predicting a new Ice Age. Just think about all the stuff we have been told over the last forty years that eventually turned out to be wrong. Why would we listen to this now? Especially since we have found out that the core group of climate change proponents are liers.

This is about controlling people, taking our money, freedom, mobility, etc. because is the best thing for us. Follow the money, Who stands to prosper from this fiasco? It certainly won't be the hard working people of this country or any other. It will be the elite and the politically connected. It will be large corporations that can take advantage of what ever is mandated by the idiot experts.
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