Hi Everyone,
Just bringing this bill to your attention because while on the surface level it seems good, there could be dangerous amendments attached to it, such as potentially controversial issues such as Keystone XL pipeline and the Obama administration’s climate change plans. The Senate will most likely post pone any votes until after the August recess, but just something to have on our radar if we want to start generating calls on this. NWF has already submitted a letter expressing our concerns over some of the potential amendments, I have attached for your reference.

Sarah Mullkoff

Senate sets up Shaheen-Portman for action next month

Nick Juliano, E&E reporter

Published: Friday, August 2, 2013

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On his way out the door for a five-week recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moved to proceed to an energy efficiency bill, setting it up to be among the chamber’s first orders of business when it reconvenes after Labor Day.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the bill’s sponsors, took to the floor after Reid’s move to sing their bill’s praises and predict its passage next month. The pair reintroduced their bill this week as S. 1392, eliminating a state grant program from an earlier version and making some other changes (E&E Daily, July 31).

“Absolutely it will pass the Senate, and it will do that because it represents almost three years” of outreach to “craft the most effective piece of legislation” that could pass the Senate and House, Shaheen said yesterday evening from the floor.

Shaheen said earlier this week that she was optimistic the state grant program would be replaced in some form before debate on the bill begins next month. Senators also are expected to spend time during the August recess negotiating the amendments that could come up as Republicans continue to seek votes on controversial issues such as the Keystone XL pipeline and the Obama administration’s climate change plans.

Final vote on Shaheen-Portman likely to slip to after recess — sponsor

Nick Juliano, E&E reporter

Published: Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A key energy efficiency bill awaiting action in the Senate is unlikely to see a final passage vote this week, but supporters are still hopeful they can clear procedural hurdles to get the bill in line to be debated after the August recess, one of the bill’s sponsors said yesterday.

“I don’t think we’re going to get through the bill this week, no,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told reporters yesterday evening. “It’s my goal to get on it this week. Clearly, given all the other items in the queue, we’re not going to get through it this week.”

The Senate is scheduled to adjourn by Friday for its five-week August recess, and its calendar is relatively full this week, with a transportation and housing spending bill as well as several executive branch nominations set to see action before senators leave town. Numerous aides and lobbyists were predicting earlier yesterday that there would not be time for the efficiency bill from Shaheen and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), S. 761.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to advance the bill this spring, and it has awaited action for months as other bills jumped ahead in the queue of pending legislation.

Complicating matters is the Shaheen-Portman bill’s potential to become the first substantial energy legislation to hit the Senate floor in six years, making it a target for a wide variety of amendments aiming to put senators on record over a variety of controversial issues such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline and U.S. EPA’s upcoming climate rules (E&E Daily, July 26). At least a dozen bipartisan amendments related to promoting energy efficiency also are being considered for inclusion in a manager’s package or for separate floor votes, senators have said.

Shaheen said negotiations were ongoing over which amendments would receive votes. She said the goal was to reach a deal that would allow the bill to come to the floor without requiring a 60-vote threshold to cut off a filibuster.

“Hopefully, it won’t require cloture, but I think we would know at some point this week,” Shaheen said.

The shape of a filibuster-avoiding deal remains to be seen, and Republicans continue to press for votes on politically charged amendments. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said yesterday he was still pushing to secure a vote aimed at putting his colleagues on record as to whether they approve of President Obama’s plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. And Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he would like to see a vote on his planned Keystone XL amendment, although he has suggested that could happen on a vehicle other than Shaheen-Portman.

Nonetheless, Hoeven said no amendment deal was evident yesterday and that the absence of such an agreement could doom the bill’s chance of making it to the floor.

“It would be really hard to do … because if you bring it up and close off the amendment process” this week, Republicans are unlikely to support the measure, Hoeven told reporters yesterday.

If the bill slips until after this week, it remains to be seen when the Senate would have time to return to it. September is expected to be dominated by the budget debates that have gripped the Capitol for the last several years, as Congress will have to enact new appropriations laws before October to prevent a government shutdown. And later in the fall, the necessity of increasing the debt ceiling likely will consume most of lawmakers’ attention.

Environmental groups and their allies yesterday ramped up their lobbying against the extraneous Shaheen-Portman amendments.

The Natural Resources Defense Council distributed a memo to reporters highlighting expectations that the bill would become “hijacked … with poison-pill amendments only designed to score political points and gin-up talking points” for the August recess. The group seemed to be laying the groundwork to blame Republicans in the event the bill ultimately falls from the Senate’s agenda.

“Time is ticking for the bill to get on the floor, and there’s a huge spectrum of stakeholders who want to see that happen. … The question of the hour seems to be whether the bomb-throwers and extremists let it go forward,” said Franz Matzner, NRDC’s associate director of government affairs, during an interview yesterday.

Separately, the Sierra Club and American Institute of Architects ran an ad in The Hill newspaper targeting a separate amendment from Hoeven and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) that would kill a requirement for new and renovated federal buildings to eliminate fossil energy use by 2030 while increasing overall energy-reduction targets. Those groups are backing an alternative amendment from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) that attempts to more narrowly address some concerns over the phaseout rule.

But the issue has caused a bit of a rift in the coalition of outside groups backing Shaheen-Portman, with leading efficiency organizations like the Alliance to Save Energy as well as most industry supporters backing Hoeven-Manchin. NRDC does not have a position on the amendment, Matzner said.

Reporter Elana Schor contributed.

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Sarah Mullkoff
Energy and Climate Policy Associate
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) – Great Lakes Office
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