Emailing "Legislative Updates"
It's been a busy week on Capitol Hill. Most of the attention has been on the economy and the President's proposals to overhaul regulatory agencies that oversee banks and consumer financial products. A couple of bills we have been tracking, however, inched closer towards law this week. In fact, one of them, the cash for clunkers program, is all but a done deal.
First, the climate bill (aka Waxman-Markey and also aka cap-and-trade). This week, several Midwest congresspersons from both parties raised some pretty strong
objections to the bill. The objections were raised during a House Agricultural Committee meeting reviewing the bill, and come on the heels of concessions given to the coal, steel and auto industries for free carbon allowances in the initial years of implementation. Farmers would like some of those free allowances too. Further signs of farmers' apprehensions showed up in the EPA funding bill last night, when lawmakers
inserted provisions into the bill that would prohibit the EPA from requiring factory farms to report their greenhouse gas emissions and exempting livestock operations from any future carbon regulations. The bill is headed for a floor vote next week, and as of today it's still unclear if it has enough votes, particularly from those Midwest representatives, to pass. The negotiations will likely
continue until the last minute.
The cash-for-clunkers bill did much better this week, winning
passage in the Senate yesterday in spite of a last-minute Republican effort to strip it away from the war funding bill, where it has been inserted. The Department of Transportation now has 30 days to publish guidelines and rules for the program, so expect the program to be "live" by August. The government estimates the program will result in more than 600,000 incremental new vehicle sales as consumers trade in older gas guzzlers for a new fuel-efficient vehicle and up to a $4500 credit. An FAQ on how the program will work can be found
here.
Have a great weekend!