Return to PayGo Rule Kills Dirty Energy Bill!
Feb 26th, 2010 Originally Posted by Susan Kraemer
The fossil industry and its media mouthpieces have been pushing the idea that only the energy-only bill in the Senate can pass. Reuters, the NYT, the WSJ regularly come out with doctored quotes like this to push the idea that the climate and clean energy bill is dead, and that only the energy-only bill is passable.
They quote Republican Senators as saying that the climate bill is dead. They don’t mention that Republicans have never supported climate legislation, so this is not new news, and does not in fact represent the chances of legitimate climate and clean energy legislation passing with more Democrats than ever and the two Republicans (Collins and Snowe) who’ve always voted right on clean energy.
Regardless of the fossil industry stranglehold on the corporate media, however, a little covered action by the Obama administration last week quietly stuck the nail in the coffin of the energy-only bill. Under PayGo – fiscal responsibility was just signed back into law again last week.
As a result, with “pay as you go” rules back in effect, the congress now cannot pass any legislation that does not pay for itself – such as the energy-only bill.
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