has told the Senate to aim to take up an energy bill the week of July 12, after the July 4 break (and after the scheduled final passage of Wall Street reform). Kagan confirmation will follow, ahead of the summer break, scheduled to begin Aug. 9. The plan is to conference the new Senate bill with the already-passed House bill IN A LAME-DUCK SESSION AFTER THE ELECTION, so House members don’t have to take another tough vote ahead of midterms.
Jay Cost believes, as do I, that this strategy is being pursued because,
The only reason to pass such a major piece of legislation during a lame duck session is because the proposal is unpopular. If Democrats could sell the bill to their constituents, they would pass it before the November elections then campaign on it. Party leaders must also expect that the political will for this bill will not exist in the 112th Congress after the voters have spoken in November. In other words, the new representatives coming in are not going to vote for it - so Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama had better get the representatives who were just fired to support it before they're forced into early retirement...Passing health care reform over howls of popular protest then jamming energy reform through a lame duck Congress might solidify the impression that this President is a bully who doesn't care what the people think.
This will cost Mr. Obama whatever chance he might have had for reelection...and gives the GOP yet another stick with which to beat the Democrats with. By using underhanded paliamentary tricks to get his agenda passed, one that has huge costs associated with it, will only solidify opposition to this president, guaranteeing his "retirement by the electorate" in 2012. This is yet another reason why we must give the Republican party a huge majority in this fall's election. That will be the only way to overturn, through repeal these horrible pieces of legislation.
REMEMBER NOVEMBER!
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