Henry Waxman may fast track climate bill

Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman may fast-track his controversial climate change bill, bypassing the political hurdles of the subcommittee. ”I’m still holding firm on my deadline to get a bill out of committee by the end of May and I believe that will probably require us to go right to the full committee and bypass the subcommittee,” Waxman told reporters. Waxman cautioned that "no final decisions" had been made, but he stressed that skipping the subcommittee might be the only way to keep to his deadline. Waxman’s comments came just hours after the Democrats on the committee met with President Barack Obama in the White House. The president urged the committee to find a compromise on climate and energy legislation that’s been stuck in the subcommittee for weeks. Democrats on the committee said the expedited timeline was necessary to pass a bill out of committee by the Memorial Day recess – a deadline set by Waxman and encouraged by the administration, which wants the committee to be ready to move on to health care reform this summer...Politico