Congress may move on energy in 'lameduck' session
Date: 14-Oct-02
Country: USA
Lawmakers and congressional staff met again behind closed doors on Capitol Hill to try to hammer out an energy bill. But with time running out and disagreement over several major provisions in the legislation, lawmakers may end up with a stripped-down energy bill.
Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said he did not believe there was enough time before the congressional elections in early November for lawmakers to vote on a energy bill.
Speaking at an energy efficiency conference, Dorgan said an energy bill had a good chance of passage in a lameduck session of Congress if, as expected, lawmakers returned after the elections to deal with unfinished legislation.
"We'll likely have a lameduck session (which) makes it more likely that we'll get an energy bill," Dorgan said. "Without a lameduck, it doesn't look good at this point (for energy legislation)."
Dorgan thought there was enough support among Senate and House negotiators to include in the bill language to triple the amount of corn-based ethanol that is blended into gasoline.
"Ethanol has very broad support," he said.
President George W. Bush also backs an ethanol mandate.
Speaking at the same conference, Karen Knutson, who is Vice President Dick Cheney's deputy assistant for domestic policy, said the White House wants Congress to pass an energy bill and that the legislation must include language to reform the U.S. electricity market.
"We're getting down to the wire here," she said.
Knutson said Senate and House negotiators were not that far apart on a electricity reform package and she believed a deal could be reached on the issue.
But she admitted there was strong disagreement between negotiators on whether to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and over a climate change plan to fight global warming.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said on Thursday he was not sure a stripped-down energy bill was a good idea.
"I'm hesitant to pass just a few small pieces of an overall policy because we need a national (energy) policy," Lott told reporters.
"We need to encourage more (energy) production. We need incentives to find alternative fuels. We need to encourage conservation. We need the whole package."
Meanwhile, the White House said it still hoped for a comprehensive energy bill that would allow drilling in ANWR and help reduce U.S. imports of foreign oil.
"The President remains hopeful that the energy legislation will do as much as possible to ... increase America's energy independence," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
