Now that the nuclear option has fizzled, the U.S. Senate is swiftly moving on to debate the Cheney energy bill. A vote may be just days away. This grotesque bill features some jaw-dropping handouts to energy corporations, continued government protection of the nuclear power industry, disastrous environmental policies, and many other goodies.
THIS BILL CAN BE STOPPED. It's time to win one. How?
Just like in the past Congress, the House in this Congress passed this bill quickly. But when it came up for a vote in the last Senate, supporters failed to reach the required 60 votes to cut off a filibuster. Despite the Republican Senate gains in the 2004 elections, a filibuster can STILL stop this legislation. Six Republicans still in the Senate oppose this bill:
Chafee
Collins
Gregg
McCain
Snowe
Sununu
This would leave Republicans with 49 votes, 11 short of the required 60 to cut off a filibuster; current Democrats who favored the bill last time number 10:
Baucus
Conrad
Dayton
Dorgan
Harkin
Johnson
Landrieu
Lincoln
Nelson
Pryor
So if things pan out as they did the last time this bill came to a vote, it will fall a mere ONE VOTE SHORT. That's all very well and good, but I would not necessarily count on Gregg and Sununu holding on from intense White House pressure, would you? And who knows how the new guy Salazar will go? IT WILL BE CLOSE!
The full roll call from last time is here:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&sessio
n=1&vote=00456
Please take a moment to send your senators a note urging them to oppose this atrocious legislation. The group "Save The Environment" has a web site set up to allow you to send a quick email, which also lays out some of the flaws in the bill:
http://http://ga3.org/campaign/energybill/step1.tcl