Chamber Goes Green?

On Tuesday, the Chamber sent a letter to the chairman and the ranking Republican of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, calling on them “to take steps to bridge the political and geographical divide” that killed legislation to reduce carbon emissions in 2003, 2005, and 2008. The political divide continued on that committee Wednesday, as Republicans once again blocked a markup of that panel’s cap-and-trade bill by boycotting the session. The Chamber’s letter, however, did provide a boost to efforts by Senators John Kerry and Lindsay Graham to negotiate a climate-change bill that could get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. It also may help repair the Chamber’s image, which has been battered by the resignations of high-profile members like Apple over its opposition to past proposals to cap carbon emissions. Ideas outlined by Kerry and Graham “can serve as a solid, workable, commonsense foundation on which to craft a bill,” wrote Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s top lobbyist...read more