Green Living Tips 03.22.10
Could Health Care Bill's Passage
Endanger Energy Reform?
There is one major way the Health Care Bill’s passage could feasibly endanger Energy Reform, and that's if the passage of a health care bill causes Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to jump ship on energy reform efforts. Josh Nelson grapples with this possibility in a good piece over at EnviroKnow, noting the senator's threats to bail on energy reform if the Democrats use the reconciliation process to pass parts of the health care legislation. And the loss of Graham's support would indeed be a significant one--he's currently the only Republican actively supporting energy reform. But would he really walk away from his efforts--which have been controversial amongst the GOP, or is it an empty threat?
So while this is certainly a concern, and Democrats should take care not to deliberately upset Sen. Graham, it is possible that passing health care reform (which Graham is vehemently against) through reconciliation wouldn't be the last straw. It seems he's already taken such a beating from his base for even meeting with Kerry and supporting the idea of energy reform. Remember, the GOP stance on climate legislation was already a hard-line 'no' when he emerged as a supporter. He has already taken enough flack, spent enough time holding his ground, explaining his position, that the logic of turning back now is unimaginable.
No one can be sure, of course, but it seems that Graham is truly backing energy reform because of ideological reasons - he thinks it's right, and perhaps has the foresight to realize it could pay political dividends when the coming prominence of a clean energy economy is better realized by the mainstream public. Surely spite over the Democrats health care procedural tactics will override that ideology. But it is still certainly something for energy reform hopefuls to be nervous about.
Source: www.treehugger.com
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