democratic Press
We’ve been watching, but we haven’t seen white smoke coming from the tax-writing cardinals. Our many messages from the media hint at a great hunger for news on this energy…
The Senate today approved the nominations of Joe Kelliher and Suedeen Kelly to fill vacancies on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The appointments come at a crucial time for the…
Some say that “the sun never sets on the jurisdiction of the Senate Energy Committee.” We don’t know if that’s technically accurate, but we do know that ENR has jurisdiction…
With terrible fires burning in the Western U.S., and with the Senate again debating ways to reduce risks from those kinds of wildfires, the GAO yesterday released the final of…
The Senate today is debating H.R. 1904, the “Healthy Forests Restoration Act.” Senator Bingaman plans to strengthen, clarify and improve this newly-negotiated legislation with a number of amendments, including: —…
This morning, we heard huffing and puffing in the Senate about the so-called “healthy forests initiative.” The senior senator from Idaho went so far as to accuse “the junior senator…
Like the first sighting of a robin in spring, a reliable indicator that the energy conference report may finally see sunshine is when Republican Senators go to the Senate floor…
Here are the prepared remarks that Sen. Bingaman delivered around 1:45 p.m. today on the Senate floor. His basic theme is that the Democratic conferees and the public need and…
Republican staff who are self-negotiating our nation’s energy policy say they need more time to wrap up work on taxes. The GOP conference managers say they intend to convene an…
1) You probably have read the reports that ANWR and the OCS inventory are going to be dropped from the final energy conference report. That is what we’ve been hearing…
Not to overwhelm you today with e-mails, but we thought this letter from 29 Senators to the GOP leaders of the energy conference is worth sharing: October 17, 2003 Dear…
Vote-counters outside Congress have mounted an effort to identify issues in — or not in — the energy conference report that might incite a filibuster. (That excludes, of course, ANWR,…
The GOP chairmen controlling the House-Senate energy conference are insisting that the federal government needs to conduct an inventory of the nation’s offshore oil and gas resources beneath the waters…
Our complaints about the process that Republicans have followed in the energy conference are well known and widely reported. So, as you start thinking about “setting the table” for next…
Most of you received the second discussion draft of the various provisions in the energy bill that GOP staff thus far have negotiated in their Cheney Task Force-like discussions. A…
Here is a “dear colleague” letter from Sens. Daschle, Bingaman and Reid on the Alaska natural gas pipeline. It urges Senators to support the provisions that are necessary to make…
We understand a notice has circulated referencing a request that Congressman Dingell, who leads the House Democrats in the energy conference, made to Sen. Pete Domenici, who is chairing the…
Yesterday, a Wall Street Journal editorial asserted that a majority of the Senate supports drilling in ANWR and suggested that Sen. Daschle would soften his opposition to drilling in ANWR…
Last week, Republican staff who are secretly negotiating the energy bill admitted that a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) would not be included in the conference report. If these staffers have…
Because of Hurricane Isabel’s expected track through D.C. today and tomorrow, this Update, sadly, will be the last one this week. The storm has postponed the energy conference staff meetings…
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) on the Senate Energy Committee’s vote today re: Suedeen Kelly’s pending nomination to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: “It is in the national interest for the…
Staffs of Republican and Democratic energy conferees, plus relevant committee staff, are planning to meet every day this week to review various “discussion drafts” for the conference report — text…
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, top Democrat on the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, in a floor speech today didn’t mince words re: the recent commercial exploitation of the National Mall,…
Today, Senate Energy Committee’s majority staff briefed reporters on Sen. Domenici’s decision regarding the conduct of negotiations for the energy conference. As we understand it, the negotiations will be conducted,…
Late today, staffs for Chairman Domenici and Chairman Tauzin released draft language on a variety of second-tier sections in the energy bill — language that GOP drafted secretly over the…