Democrats scramble for climate bill votes
By LISA LERER & PATRICK O'CONNOR 6/25/09 8:43 PM EDT http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24232.html#ixzz0JYL1mStO&D
Democratic leaders are working furiously to corral votes for a controversial climate change measure, hoping to build a big enough margin so that vulnerable Democrats can be freed to vote against it.
At the White House on Thursday, President Barack Obama declared: “Now is the time to act.”
Former Vice President Al Gore, who had planned to rally Democrats en masse in Washington, stayed home in Tennessee so he could press members one by one via telephone.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plied undecided members with chocolate
-covered Dove bars in a series of small group meetings. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel worked the phones, and administration officials were expected to whip members at a White House luau Thursday night.
By late Thursday, aides and lawmakers said Democrats were within a dozen of the 218 votes needed to pass the legislation. Democratic sources said their leaders aimed to lock in 230 yes votes — and leaning on key Blue Dogs such as Reps. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota and South Dakota’s Stephanie Herseth Sandlin so that more vulnerable members such as Reps. Eric Massa of New York and Maryland’s Frank Kratovil can vote no.
Asked if she was confident of prevailing, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), the chief deputy whip, said: “I’m not confident about anything. But I will say we are closing in on the numbers. We feel good about the way things are going today.”
Much of the support for the legislation is a testament to the work of the bill’s main sponsors, Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, who spent months negotiating the details of the legislation to satisfy lawmakers from across the country. The final 1,201-page bill includes compromises for Michigan auto interests, Rust Belt manufacturers, Texas oil refineries, Midwestern farmers and Southeastern coal companies.
Obama highlighted those compromises on Thursday, calling the legislation “balanced” and “sensible” in a brief public statement designed to nudge undecided Democrats into the yes column.
“I urge every member of Congress, Democrat and Republican, to come together and support this legislation,” he said during a brief Rose Garden event. “I know this is going to be a close vote.”
Throughout the day, undecided members leveraged their votes to lobby for additional changes to be made to the bill.
“Everyone is concerned that their region is going to get hit harder than others,” said Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak. “We still have a long ways to go with this bill.”
Behind the scenes, the administration worked furiously to help the Democratic leadership garner support for the legislation. Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other administration officials have been calling skeptical lawmakers from both parties for weeks. Energy adviser Carol Browner met with several on-the-fence lawmakers Thursday.
Emanuel met Wednesday with Kratovil and a group of other Democratic freshmen: Reps. Bobby Bright of Alabama, Jim Himes of Connecticut, Larry Kissell of North Carolina, Betsy Markey of Colorado and Mark Schauer of Michigan. Minnesota Democrat Tim Walz was invited for a Thursday meeting.
White House adviser David Axelrod explained the importance of the legislation in a morning meeting with the entire Democratic Caucus, telling the assembled lawmakers that the bill is a priority for the president. He also highlighted the legislation’s importance to independent voters and said voters would reward Democrats at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue “for governing,” according to one attendee.
During Thursday afternoon’s votes, Pelosi cruised the floor, talking to member after member. The day before, Ed Markey and a key staffer held a long conversation with Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan.
Ryan, who said he plans to vote for the bill, had some concerns about manufacturing interests in Ohio.
“This green revolution is supposed to benefit the Midwest and places like Ohio, not just California, New York and New England,” he said. “And I think they get that.”
Waxman and Markey held a series of meetings with fence-sitters late Wednesday night, calling together moderate Republicans, upstate New Yorkers, Democrats from the Ways and Means Committee and farm-state Democrats.
Members of the Democrats’ whip team hit the floor Thursday with district-by-district statistics showing that the legislation would save money for members’ constituents.
During the last votes of the day, Markey, Texas Rep. Gene Green — a very reluctant supporter — and Caucus Chairman John Larson leaned over Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar in a heated discussion until Cuellar finally shook Markey’s hand and the huddle broke up. That scene played out again and again throughout the day as Democrats felt the full weight of the White House and its leadership bear down on them.
One holdout, Pomeroy, said he’s a pretty hard “no” and seemed resistant to any external pressure.
“I’m here to represent North Dakota, and we only have one guy: me,” the senior Ways and Means Committee member said. “I know how badly the speaker wants this bill, but I have a job to do. On this one, I don’t feel any pressure at all.”
“I’d hate to be a wavering member on this one,” Pomeroy said.
Reichert, who’s getting heavy pressure on both sides of the aisle, said he’s “still in the investigative stage,” with a wry grin that suggested his vote was still in play.
Democratic leadership aides expect five to 10 Republicans to vote for the bill, including California Rep. Mary Bono Mack, who supported it in the Energy and Commerce Committee. Other Republicans that Democrats hoped would cross over include Mike Castle of Delaware, Vernon Ehlers of Michigan, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Dave Reichert of Washington.
Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and his team are working hard to hold as many moderates as possible in order to force more centrist Democrats to back the legislation. Those efforts focused on some of the same members being targeted by Democrats, like Castle and Kirk, but also other lawmakers from environmentally friendly corners of the country, such as Wisconsin Rep. Tom Petri.
And on Thursday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) threw down the gauntlet.
“Mark my words,” he said. “The American people are going to remember this vote. This will be a defining moment and a defining vote in this Congress.”
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For moderates, it's not easy being green
By LISA LERER 6/25/09 8:18 AM EDT http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24177.html#ixzz0JYMZSfZA&D
As House Democrats race toward a Friday floor vote on a controversial energy and climate change bill, moderate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are feeling a little like Kermit the Frog.
It’s not easy being green.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and about a dozen emissaries are cornering skeptical Democrats across the Capitol, warning them that a vote against the bill will come back to haunt them. Top White House officials — including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel — are calling in on-the-fence members for high-pressure meetings.
Across the aisle, Republican leaders are trying to lock down their own caucus in near-unanimous opposition — the better to make the bill, which they dub an “energy tax,” a major campaign issue in 2010.
Moderates — in both parties — are stuck in the middle of what David Wasserman, House editor of the Cook Political Report, calls a “treacherous vote.”
Here are the members who’d most like to climb under a lily pad.
The freshmen: Reps. Frank Kratovil Jr., Walt Minnick, Bobby Bright and Eric Massa
Republicans are paying close attention to how freshman Democrats from conservative districts vote on the bill. While longer-serving Democrats from Republican-leaning districts might be able to explain the difficult vote to their constituents, freshmen may not have the political experience or goodwill back home to survive it.
“Most of my constituents are saying that if you vote for this, you won’t return to Congress,” said Massa. “This is 80-20 back home.”
Freshmen are complaining that Pelosi has given them too little time to review the whopping 1,200-plus-page bill. As of Wednesday, several said they remained undecided.
Kratovil, a freshman Democrat on the Agriculture Committee who will probably find himself in the Republicans’ cross hairs next fall, spent the early part of the week reviewing changes to the bill, along with a 107-page report on the issue written by the Congressional Research Service.
“I’m looking at some of the issues that have been resolved on the Ag Committee,” Kratovil said. “I’m optimistic these issues will be resolved.”
But he’s still on the fence, saying he needs to know more details about the final bill before he will know for sure which way he’s going to vote. “For me, it’s the details,” he said.
The schemers: Reps. Charlie Melancon and Mark Kirk
Both Melancon and Kirk are eyeing statewide office, and their political ambitions are certainly influencing their votes on the bill. Melancon has all but officially declared his challenge to Republican Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). And in Illinois, Republicans are pressuring Kirk to run for Obama’s old Senate seat in 2010.
Melancon voted against the bill, which is close to a nonstarter in oil-rich Louisiana, when it was before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. With the GOP already ready running radio ads against him, he’s expected to oppose the bill again this week.
Kirk remains on the fence, saying he has concerns about the lack of funding for nuclear energy and coal interests in his state.
“We don’t want to de-industrialize Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin,” Kirk said after a meeting
with Pelosi and Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) , the sponsors of the legislation.
Opposing the bill could hurt him, however, in Chicago and other more liberal corners of the state. So voting for the bill, note political observers, could indicate some serious senatorial ambitious.
The farmers: Reps. Tim Walz and Mark Schauer
Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson is backing the bill after cutting a deal on Tuesday with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman — but that doesn’t mean the rest of his committee is quite as ready to sign off on the legislation.
“I did get a cordial invitation to go talk to Rahm on Thursday,” said Walz, a Minnesota Democrat, who was spotted deep in conversation with Peterson on the House floor on Wednesday but remained undecided about the bill. “We need to try and learn by Thursday, for sure, where we’re at.”
The bill is expected to pick up the endorsements of several farm and ranching associations, a fact that could give some farm-state lawmakers the necessary cover to back it. But the Farm Bureau, a major agricultural lobbying association, continues to oppose the bill as “seriously flawed.”
The Republicans: Reps. Mike Castle, Dan Lungren and Dave Reichert
Democrats aren’t the only ones who could get burned by the bill.
Vulnerable Republicans from suburban districts could also find themselves in a difficult position if they vote with their party and oppose the legislation.
Waxman and Markey held a second meeting with moderate Republicans on Wednesday, urging them to back the legislation. A vote against the legislation, Democrats warn, could later allow them to label Republican candidates as against creating new green jobs, decreasing dependence on foreign oil and transitioning to a clean energy economy.
Those arguments have resonated with at least one Republican: California Rep. Mary Bono Mack voted for the bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee. Her Southern California district is rich with wind, solar and other renewable energy resources, making it nearly impossible for her to oppose the proposal, she said last week.
Energy producers: Reps. Mike Ross, Zack Space and Baron Hill
Although Democratic Reps. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania and Rick Boucher of Virginia back the bill, their support might not be enough to convince other Rust Belt Democrats.
Some Midwestern and Southern members worry the bill could hurt coal and oil interests back home, as well as raise energy costs for already-strapped consumers.
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), who opposes the legislation, even introduced his own legislation on Tuesday that would expand oil and gas exploration.
“Energy-producing folks are going to need a good explanation back home to cast a vote for this thing,” said Wasserman. “This is a fascinating tug of war between guys like Boucher and guys like Bobby Bright, who would not support the measure over his dead body.”
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