Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
                                                                      October 18, 2019                                                           
 
In the midst of it all, Senate Democrats forced a vote on their resolution to deny the administration its Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE). The resolution called for striking down ACE and reinstating Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP).

The resolution was brought to the floor using the rarely used and even more rarely successful Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA allows Congress to strike down a regulation within 60 legislative days of its being posted as final in the Federal Register. Ordinarily, Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) would have buried the resolution. The CRA, however, allows a resolution to come to the floor directly with the signatures of 30 senators.

The Democrats had no illusion about the resolution’s passage. It was put forward purely as a means of getting Republicans on record against doing anything very strident about Earth’s warming. The Senate Democrats succeeded mostly in proving what everyone already knew.

                       Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion
 
Volume 1                                                          September 23, 2019                                                             Issue 29

The new federal fiscal year is a week away. It appears that a continuing resolution (CR) will once again be the answer to Congress’ continued inability to pass spending bills. The CR already passed by the House and now being considered by the Senate will extend government funding through November 21st. Whether Congress giving itself more time will actually result in the passage of the 12 spending bills that makes up the annual appropriation’s package is questionable.

Each day that passes seems to bring up new partisan conflicts that make doing the business of government a near impossibility. The border wall and Trump’s having gone around Congress by issuing a national emergency at the Southern Border and moving $3.6 billion out of the Defense Department’s budget is still sticking in the craw of Democrats and many Republicans—at least those who recognize Trump’s actions trash the constitutional separation of powers.

Other climate-related issues contributing to the partisan divide include drilling off the shores of the lower continental US and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Contrary to the budget agreement made by the White House and Congress to raise federal spending and the debt ceiling that was made before the August recess, Democrats are still looking to add policy riders to appropriations legislation. The Democrats look to the appropriations bills as their only real chance to push back against the actions of the administration that they otherwise have a problem influencing, e.g., opening the Arctic to oil and gas drilling.

CRs keep the government open, but they basically limit agencies to do only what they’ve done the fiscal year before. These days the that can mean only what an agency did five or ten years ago since Congressional gridlock has ruled Capitol Hill for most of the century.