The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act is halfway through the Senate -- it's cleared three of the six Senate committees with jurisdiction. It'll provide up to 1.9 million high paying, clean energy jobs to help the United States transition to a carbon free economy. It's deficit neutral, its projected costs are nominal, and its benefits are immense. A similar bill, the American Clean Energy Security Act, already passed the House last June.
Senator Jim Webb (D?-VA) has rejected that bill, preferring to work with Republican Lamar Alexander (R-Tennukessee).
And Senator Reid thinks so poorly of that bill that he'd rather have the Senate take up an inchoate jobs bill, along with a financial reform bill, before considering CEJAPA.
After all, it's not like the world needs un-Democratic Senators.
Remember Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia who lost because he ran away from Democratic values instead of on them? He announced his dislike for cap and trade, and then claimed to be surprised when Democrats weren't enthused about turning out to elect him. Had I been a Virginia voter, I would have shared that lack of enthusiasm for a candidate who doesn't understand core Democratic values. President Obama's two signature pieces of legislation this year are supposed to be healthcare reform and climate, and a candidate who doesn't agree with either has a dubious claim on the word "Democrat."
Jim Webb now follows in Deeds' footsteps. He's running away from Democratic values instead of on them. Today he announced that he would not vote for CEJAPA:
"In its present form I would not vote for it," he said. "I have some real questions about the real complexities on cap and trade."
.... "That piece of legislation right now is something that is going to cause a lot of people a lot of concern," he said.
Instead, he and Alexander introduced a $20 billion nuclear bill to double the nation's nuclear power capacity, while complaining that CEJAPA might be too hard on some coal companies and might even cause them to shut down. (Photo credit: Washington State Historical Society via Grist.) Likewise, he gripes that he doesn't understand cap and trade after studying it for two years.
The United States already has a successful cap and trade system, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and Delaware and Maryland are among the ten states that are part of it. If Senator Webb has trouble with the concept, he could cross the Potomac to ask for explanations. Or he could ask Potomac Economics (PDF), which found "no evidence of anticompetitive conduct. Participation by a large number of firms is an encouraging sign of competitiveness and efficiency in the secondary market" for RGGI carbon trading.
This isn't about Senator Webb espousing nuclear power per se. CEJAPA has a nuclear title, and Senator Boxer has invited amendments to the bill. I just don't understand why Webb would rather work with Alexander than with Senator Kerry and other people in his own party. The Webb-Alexander bill omits a cap on carbon emissions (but aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?). It's not a climate bill, it's a climate excuse.
Senator Webb isn't the only Democrat who doesn't understand the need for enacting President Obama's domestic agenda. Today Senator Harry Reid held a meeting with the six committee chairs to prioritize work on CEJAPA, financial reform, and a separate jobs bill proposed last week. Senator Kerry -- who is turning out to be a terrific environmental advocate -- pointed out the obvious, via Politico:
the climate bill would create millions of new green jobs by providing incentives for businesses to invest in green technologies.
"If you want to do a jobs bill this is the bill to do," he said. "I would argue that with the president very very forcefully."
However, Senator Reid decreed that the Clean Energy JOBS and American Power Act should be taken up after a brand new jobs bill that has yet to be written, hasn't passed any committees, and hasn't passed the House. Predictions for passage of the climate bill now range from early summer to the Twelfth of Never. Public pressure kept the climate bill alive all summer long when Reid and conservative Democrats wanted the bill to die a quiet death, and public pressure will be needed through the winter and spring. Sheer political will is needed to prevent the worst ravages of climate change; Reid, Webb, and the Blue Dogs don't seem to have that will.
If you want to tell Senator Webb to support CEJAPA and run on Democratic values instead of away from them, he can be reached at 202-224-4024 or through his regional offices.