Democrats Passing Cap And Trade Through The House Was No Great Accomplishment
As James Pethokoukis points out, we’ve been here before:
Getting major energy and environmental legislation passed in the House of Representatives isn’t by itself a landmark accomplishment. Been there, done that. In 1993, Democrats passed an energy tax by a vote of 219-213. And doing it again by a similarly razor-thin 219-212 vote — after more than a decade-and-a-half of intense political lobbying, numerous scientific studies, global media attention, Hollywood hectoring and, of course, Al Gore — doesn’t show a whole lot of tangible political progress for green Democrats.
Good point. And when this 1993 bill was sent to the Senate back then, it didn’t even make it to a vote.
What’s more, many of the Democrats who voted for the 1993 bill in the House went on to lose elections in the 1994 “Republican Revolution” that saw the GOP taking back the House.
Cap and trade is by no means a certainty at this point. And given how razor-thin the margin was in the House, I don’t think it has a chance in the Senate. In the House the mostly rural but energy-rich states that will get hit hardest by this bill - states like North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska - have one vote that’s crowded out by dozens of votes cast by Representatives from places like New York and California. But in the Senate all states have two votes, and suddenly the battleground is even.
And I’m willing to bet that the Senators from states like North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska either won’t be letting this bill be voted on or will be voting “no.” And given that they need 60 votes to get the bill through the Senate, I don’t see it passing.
Though that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be telling your Senator to vote no. Click here to email your Senators in two easy steps.
