What the Climate Bill Fence-Sitters Want

Advertisement

Advertisement

The lack of details, though, has annoyed some Republicans. "We're going to have hearings on Tuesday and I haven't seen the bill," said Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio). "If there are allowances, I'd be very interested in seeing the allowances in the bill for the simple reason that they have a great deal to do with projected costs of various aspects of our economy and to our citizens."

The committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, likened the House process to "doling out pieces of a pie," and fretted that in the Senate "there aren't enough pieces left to satisfy the groups vying for them to repeat this process."

"Our climate policy, no matter what form it takes, is meant to be an environmental program, not an appropriations bill," she continued. "By imposing cap and trade we're basically going to be creating a new form of currency out there, and any permits given away will hold massive financial value."

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) repeated his belief that the value of carbon credits should be returned to consumers through a dividend system. He worried that the multi-billion-dollar value of a pollution permit system would be "going to corporate pockets or government coffers."

Fence-sitting Democrats, too, expressed concern. "The issue here is how do you reduce the emission of CO2 in a way that doesn't cause chaos here in the country in terms of the economic situation of a family," said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.). He also suggested that a carbon fee—some might call it a tax— might be more efficient.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who has introduced her own climate bill (more on that later), raised questions about the distribution of credits and the trading part of cap-and-trade. "We can't just continue to have the notion that a trading regime is magically going to work," she said, noting the "shenanigans" in the financial markets.

Sen. Boxer is expected to release a chairman's mark that will fill in the allocations portion of the bill before the EPW committee votes. But the Finance, Agriculture, Commerce, and Foreign Relations committees are expected to play a role in shaping some of the specific provisions.