Lame Duck Congress Earns its Name with this Blogger

Lame Duck Congress Earns its Name with this Blogger.  I also cannot fathom why the Democrats would elect Pelosi as their Leader  after the whooping they received in the Nov 2, 2010 Mid Term Election.   To me its further Evidence that Washington is out of touch with the Voters.  If she couldn't find ways to bridge the gap between the Dems and Reps in her prior term why would they ever elect her again? "I don't think there's a chance in the lame duck," Kerry Dems move on from cap-and-trade
	Nov 17, 2010	Politico
	Robin Bravender Senate Democrats who championed climate change legislation before its collapse this year met behind closed doors Tuesday to pick up the pieces and map out their strategy for next year. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who arranged the meeting, acknowledged that cap-and-trade legislation is dead. But he and others see room for passing smaller energy bills with bipartisan support. There was a "clear understanding" around the table that, "whether we like it or not, cap-and-trade has no chance of passage in the next Congress," Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who co-authored the climate bill, told POLITICO. "And so we've got to find separate ways to go at it," Lieberman added. Possibilities include energy provisions like support for electric cars, nuclear energy or a "clean energy standard," that includes cleaner forms of traditional energy like nuclear and coal. The other senators who attended Tuesday's meeting were Barbara Boxer of California, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Tom Carper of Delaware, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. With more Republicans heading into the House and Senate next year, Lieberman said climate bill advocates will soon reach across the aisle to gauge where they can find bipartisan support. "Very soon we've got to sit down with a group of Republicans and see if we can acknowledging that cap and trade is off the table, what are the areas that they want to see us explore?" he said. Those discussions will likely begin with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who dropped out of climate bill negotiations at the last minute this year, as well as Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lieberman said. "Senator Murkowski obviously is the key because she's ranking on Energy," Lieberman said. "And Senator Alexander's longtime interest in this and he always has good ideas, so I think we maybe want to start with some of their ideas." Graham and Alexander have championed the expansion of nuclear power and may be willing to support a clean energy standard that boosts incentives for nuclear power. Graham has also signaled that he would be willing to support a bill that capped greenhouse gases from just the utility sector. And Murkowski has signaled a willingness to work across the aisle on sweeping energy legislation; she supported the sweeping energy bill that cleared the committee last Congress, which included a renewable electricity standard. And just to be clear that senators are looking ahead to next year, Kerry put a damper on calls from renewable energy advocates and environmentalists that Congress pass energy legislation this month or next. "I don't think there's a chance in the lame duck," he said.

--
Scott's Contracting
scottscontracting@gmail.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com
http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com
scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com