Climate Action in Congress

Focus is on Senate Action

As the Congress returns from its August recess, work resumes on climate change legislation in the Senate.  On August 31, Senator Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, announced that climate legislation would not be introduced on September 9 as had been expected and would be delayed until later in the month. 

The timing of the climate change debate within the broader Congressional agenda remains unclear.  An aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has recently said that climate change may not be taken up until after the debates on health care, financial regulation modernization and tax extenders.  The Senate is likely to bring up appropriations bills this fall as well.

While the introduction of a Senate bill has been delayed, the scheduling of hearings on climate change continues.  Todd Stern, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, will be testifying before the House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee on September 10.  Pew Center President Eileen Claussen will be testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on price volatility and cost containment in a GHG cap-and-trade program on September 15.

We have an opportunity to get a clean energy and climate bill that includes cap-and-trade passed in this Congress and enacted by the President. The Pew Center continues to strongly believe that achieving this goal requires two important elements: leadership by the Obama administration and greater bipartisanship in the Senate.