Bingaman: No bills before November

Sen. Jeff Bingaman said Thursday that he doubts Congress will pass any major legislation before Election Day, including a pared-back energy bill focused on responding to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. “I think the Republicans are reluctant to support anything that might result in another signing ceremony between now and the election,” the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee told POLITICO after a Mexican lunch here with Rep. Harry Teague and other local Democrats. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) punted last week on energy legislation that would eliminate the $75 million liability cap on damages oil companies must pay in the case of spills and other disasters and beef up the federal government’s role in managing offshore drilling operations. But Reid said he’d try again when lawmakers return next month, perhaps even expanding the scope of the proposal to include other energy provisions, like a renewable electricity standard, that were dropped from when the energy and climate bill died in July. Bingaman said he was in the dark about Reid’s plans for the floor debate. Even so, he said he didn’t think Democrats can muster 60 votes on the oil spill proposal given expected GOP opposition. “It may well be that we have to wait until a lame-duck session to pass whatever we’re able to pass,” he said...more