Energy Conference: Update #29 (Surveying the Landscape)

October 17, 2002
12:00 AM
We’ve seen from news reports that both the House and the Senate have passed Continuing Resolutions to carry us through Nov. 22. Many House Members have already transited area airports, while Senators are starting to visualize "wheels up" of their own. No word yet on when a post-election session will be held. What does this mean for our conference? It means we keep talking. Conversations will continue on possible compromises to break impasses. Electricity/RPS continues to complicate the equation. The other big issues, we think, can be quickly settled once an electricity/RPS agreement is reached. Senator Bingaman is certainly pushing for a positive outcome from the conference. And Majority Leader Daschle yesterday signaled a willingness and a desire to see work continue on an energy bill. He told reporters: "Q: Senator Daschle, what's your strategy for passing energy legislation? "DASCHLE: My strategy on energy legislation is to do what we have been doing: continue to negotiate, to work, to see if we can resolve as many differences as possible, to reach a consensus on as many items as we can. That's all we can do. And I think we've come a long way, but there's still a long way to go. "Q: So does it look like energy legislation will be taken up in a lame duck? Is it -- "DASCHLE: Well, there's -- I can't put a time frame on it. All I will say is that it's our hope that we can continue to press forward, with an expectation that at some point we can get an energy bill." We’ll stay in touch ...