Hot on HuffPost:

See More Stories

MAIL

Politics Daily

Obama: Allies Will Soon Take Control of Libyan Campaign
- Politics Daily Staff
Democrats Could Lose Senate, Biden Warns Party
- Politics Daily Staff
South Dakota Governor Signs Tough Abortion Bill Into Law
- Politics Daily Staff
Obama Getting Heat From Left and Right for U.S. Role in Libyan Attacks
- Politics Daily Staff
Allied Airstrikes Buoy Libyan Rebels; Obama Stresses Limited Military Goal
- Politics Daily Staff
Opposition Rises to Increased Nuclear Power Use; Offshore Drilling Support Rebounds
- Bruce Drake
French Warplanes Enforcing Ceasefire in Libya After Gadhafi Keeps Up Attacks
- Politics Daily Staff
Economic Issues Underpin Obama's Trip to Brazil, Chile, El Salvador
- Politics Daily Staff
Obama to Gadhafi: Stop the Attacks or Face Military Action
- Politics Daily Staff
House to Consider Bill to Defund National Public Radio
- Politics Daily Staff
New Fire Breaks Out at Damaged Japanese Nuclear Plant
- Carla Baranauckas
Japanese Nuclear Power Plant Rocked by Second Explosion in Quake's Aftermath
- Carla Baranauckas and Bruce Drake

Energy Vote: Rolling the Dice Pays Off For Obama, Pelosi

2 years ago

0 Comments Say Something »

Text Size

Senior Correspondent

UPDATE: The House has narrowly passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, 219-212. The sweeping bill, a top goal for President Obama, aims to slow global warming and nudge the nation toward a clean-energy economy.

Our original story:

"We cannot be afraid of the future and we can't be prisoners of the past," President Obama said Thursday, a turn of phrase that brought to mind Bill Clinton's pleas to "make change our friend and not our enemy."

Clinton was famously unable to convince Americans that change in the health care system would be their friend. Obama's first major test comes today – Friday – with the House expected to vote on a climate bill he says will do no less than slow global warming, create new businesses and industries, and make America a world leader on both fronts.

For months now, everyone from Obama on down has been involved in a noisy debate over how to fix the nation's health care system. Meanwhile, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) was making its stealth journey on the House side. It's now in line to give Obama his first victory -- or defeat -- on a major campaign pledge.

Republicans look at ACES and see hardship. They call it a job killer and a national energy tax. They are tying it to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (approval ratings in the 30s) and to Obama (approval ratings in the 60s) and banking that whether or not it becomes law, it will tar Democrats and their leaders.

"Mark my words: the American people are going to remember this vote," House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said Thursday. "This will be a defining moment and a defining vote in this Congress."

Pelosi and other Democrats agree wholeheartedly, because they see the bill as visionary and overdue. They are armed with favorable cost estimates and a supportive coalition that includes power companies, industrial unions, large corporations and – after a late compromise – farm interests.

The ACES bill is big and complicated. It would cap carbon pollution, charge companies that pollute and aim to make clean energy the cheaper, more profitable kind of energy.

Obama says it would lead to new energy savings, new energy sources and new energy jobs. On Thursday, he said investments from the stimulus package already are creating thousands of clean-energy jobs in California, Florida and Michigan, and named the specific projects and job totals. "Make no mistake, this is a jobs bill," he said of the energy bill.

The bill has attracted support from "a remarkable coalition" because it is "so balanced and sensible," Obama said. Still, he predicted the vote would be close -- "in part because of the misinformation that's out there that suggests there's somehow a contradiction" between clean energy and economic growth.

The more persuasive the president, the more likely he is to win support from vulnerable Democrats in swing House districts. The GOP is attacking them for even considering voting for a bill it says will cost families money and jobs.

Two new government studies of the ACES bill suggest its average cost per household will be small. The Environmental Protection Agency puts it at $80 to $111 a year, while the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates it would cost the average household $175 a year.

As recently as Thursday, however, the National Republican Congressional Committee was saying that "experts estimate the annual costs will approach $3,000 for every family within a few years." The party got some backup this week from Warren Buffett, who said the bill amounts to a huge new tax.

The GOP was happy to use CBO estimates when the agency announced 10-year price tags of up to $1.6 trillion on Democratic health reform plans. But on energy, Republicans are ignoring the CBO analysis. Instead, they are extrapolating the $3,000-per-family figure from an MIT study done two years ago, before the ACES bill was written. A co-author of the study says the party is misinterpreting it.

Sara Chieffo, deputy legislative director at the League of Conservation Voters, says opponents are using "cooked numbers to induce fear. It's easier to be scared of something than to say yes and take a chance." She praised unions that support the bill for their courage, "for saying this is the way out, the way forward."

Those supportive unions include laborers and service workers and some from polluting industries such as steel. Steel companies will have to pay to pollute, and you'd think the union would be worried about jobs moving to other countries where you can pollute for free.

But ACES helps polluting industries with rebates and threats of tariffs on products from countries that don't start to curb their own carbon emissions by a certain date. Five unions and two environmental groups praised the "tremendous commitment" to such protections in a letter to House members this week.

Obama bypassed such nuts and bolts in framing his final pitch Thursday. "Let's take this opportunity to come together and meet our obligations -- to our constituents, to our children, to God's creation, and to future generations," he said. The Republican National Committee countered with "Don't let the Democrats tax your lights out!"

Will the House make change its friend? The Senate is among the many parties watching with interest to find out the answer.

Filed Under: Energy

Tagged: AmericanCleanEnergyAndSecurityActOf2009, climate

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.