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Contact Jim: jdipeso@rep.org (253) 740-2066 / 2009 Archive / 2008 Archive / 2007 Archive / 2006 Archive / 2005 Archive
History Holds Lessons for Framing Climate Legislation
February 5, 2009
History shows that environmental laws with strong records of success in achieving their goals have been those that were enacted with wide bipartisan support.
The Clean Air Act of 1970 was a project of both Democrats and Republicans, including President Richard Nixon and Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee.
The Wilderness Act of 1964 was the doggedly pursued cause of Congressman John Saylor, a Pennsylvania Republican. Thanks partly to his labors, the law passed the House with near-unanimous support.
It’s a lesson that would-be authors of climate legislation should ponder before they dip their bill-drafting pens into the ink well and start writing.
A number of Republicans have offered serious ideas for framing a climate bill. Two of those ideas have come from Howard Baker’s Tennessee.
Senator Bob Corker has floated a "cap-and-dividend" plan to auction all greenhouse gas emissions allowances and return all the revenues to the taxpayers. Lamar Alexander, who holds Baker’s old Senate seat, has proposed a cap-and-trade plan limited to power plants as a strategy to avoid, for now, the complexities of economy-wide legislation.
Other GOP senators willing to play ball include Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as well as Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter and South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham.
Then, there is the senior senator from Arizona. John McCain has fought an at-times lonely battle for cap-and-trade legislation since the early years of this decade. With no political advantage for doing so, he made the need for a climate policy an issue in last year’s Republican presidential nomination battle.
Given his commitment to and knowledge of the issue, and his knack for bridging partisan divides, McCain is well positioned to be the go-to person when it’s time to cut the serious deals that will move a climate bill off the Senate floor.
Climate legislation is likely to be the most technically and politically complex environmental bill that Congress has yet taken on. If the majority leaders in Congress want to frame a climate deal that will stick and will work effectively once it’s enacted into law, they would do well to follow the examples from history and make room for Republican ideas.
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