Brian Bowman Fellow After several unsuccessful bills in prior sessions of Congress, legislative proposals for a federal clean energy standard (“CES”) are once again being discussed in the current session. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), two key Senators from the Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, […]
Congress
51 posts
By: Danielle Sugarman On Thursday, April 14, Congress approved a bipartisan agreement that will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. The trillion-dollar continuing resolution (CR) passed the House on a 260-167 vote, with 108 Democrats and 59 Republicans in opposition, before moving to an 81-19 approval […]
Brian Bowman Fellow On March 25, 2011, the Columbia Center for Climate Change Law made available on its website a climate legislation tracker for the 112th Congress. This resource summarizes, and will continue to follow, legislative proposals from both houses of Congress which have the potential to impact U.S. federal […]
By Danielle Sugarman Fellow Taking advantage of the fact that government funding was set to run out on March 4th, House Republicans used the need for a Continuing Resolution (“CR”) on the Fiscal Year 2011 budget to push through radical cuts in the discretionary budget and additional provisions that, if […]
Gregory E. Wannier Deputy Director On February 7, 2011, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate to impose a Congressional veto over any rule passed by any federal agency costing over $100 million (regardless of projected benefits). This bill, cosponsored by 24 other […]
By Julia Ciardullo Fellow With the 112th Congress now in session, Senators from both parties have already introduced legislation that would block EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs). This post addresses two of the most notable examples: First, on January 31, 2011, Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the “Defending […]
Despite passage of Waxman-Markey in the House on June 26, 2009, failure of Kerry-Lieberman in the Senate and likely Republican gains in the upcoming elections means climate legislation is on hold until 2013 at the earliest. In response, proponents of climate regulation have largely turned to the EPA, the courts and […]
Responding to widespread frustration with gridlock in the United States Senate, Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) introduced a Senate Resolution on September 30 that proposed a series of rule changes designed to reform, but not eliminate, the use of the filibuster in Senate proceedings.