The Waxman-Markey climate bill eked by with a vote of 217-205 to pass to a floor vote in the U.S. House today. The 217 “yeas” did not include 30 moderate Democrats, which were a mix of representatives from coal states and young freshmen concerned about reelection.
Republicans have stoked concerns of these younger members of the House, and also consistently cast the bill as the “largest tax increase in American history”.
The next step is for House members to vote on amendments to the bill and send their final version to the Senate, which has its own version of an energy/climate bill circulating. Analysts expect the process of reconciling the two bills to be long and protracted, without guarantee of victory for the Democrats.
President Obama has come out with strong support for the bill, combatting Republican tax rhetoric and reframing the legislation to create jobs and lead to economic recovery. His support extended even to Twitter, where his official “tweet” read: Help pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act — crucial to creating a clean energy economy: http://bit.ly/aWcDK. The link sends Twitter users to an official Barack Obama page with instructions to call Congress in support of the bill.
Posted on June 26th, 2009
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