House passes climate-change bill - Lisa Lerer and Patrick O'Connor - POLITICO.com

House passes climate-change bill - Lisa Lerer and Patrick O'Connor - POLITICO.com

The House of Representatives passed a sweeping climate-change bill Friday – a major victory for President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that left Republicans fuming about a “national energy tax” they said would exacerbate the nation’s economic woes.

The vote was extremely close – 219-212, with eight Republicans voting yes and 44 Democrats voting no. And the debate leading up to it was intense.



In the hours before passage, Rep. Geoff Davis, a Republican from Kentucky, said the cap-and-trade bill represented the “economic colonization of the heartland” by New York and California. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) called the bill a “scam” that would do nothing but satisfy “the twisted desires of radical environmentalists.” Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) called it a “massive transfer of wealth” from the United States to foreign countries.

Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio countered that, without the bill, the United States would remain energy-dependent on people who want to “fly planes into our buildings.”

Republicans accused the Democrats of ramming the bill through the House. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), managing the debate for his party, asked repeatedly if there was even a copy of the current version of the bill anywhere in the House chamber. Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher – sitting in the speaker’s chair although she’s already been confirmed as Obama’s undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security — repeatedly dodged the question.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the bill’s sponsors, finally rose to say that a single copy of the current version of the bill was available at the speaker’s desk – and on the Internet, which members would have to leave the floor to access.

That wasn’t good enough for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who delayed the roll call vote by reading page-by-page through a 300-page managers’ amendment Democrats added at around 3 a.m. Friday. Boehner seemed to relish the hour-long stunt, picking out the bill’s most obscure language and then pontificating about what it might – or might not – mean. Republicans laughed along with him and roared with applause when he was done.

Before Boehner took the floor, Republicans asked the House to observe a moment of silence for Americans who would lose their jobs as a result of the bill. Democrats objected. Pelosi argued later that the bill would mean “jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.”

Making his closing argument for the bill he co-sponsored, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) told his colleagues that they had “a unique historical opportunity” to protect the nation’s national security, improve the environment and transform the economy.

“Vote for this legislation,” Waxman said to applause from Democrats.

But in an impassioned speech of his own, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the cap-and-trade bill would exacerbate the recession, disproportionately hurt the poor and “hamstring” U.S. industry. He was followed by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who called the bill a “great contribution to human kind” and attacked Republicans for offering nothing but “negative political shots.”

Rangel, who has his own ethical troubles, dismissed GOP complaints about Democratic deal-making on the bill, saying that deals were simply a “means of bringing people together and getting a better bill and moving forward.”

Later, Rangel sneered: “When the Republican Party becomes the protector of the poor – that’s the day I’ve been waiting for.”

Pelosi rolled the dice by scheduling a vote for the bill before she had the votes locked down. The speaker and the bill’s sponsors worked furiously to the end, twisting arms to squeeze some last-minute yes votes out of undecided members. Supporters picked up a critical vote late Friday, when Texas Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett reversed course and said he’d back the bill – if only to “have a seat at the table" to make it better down the line.



Throughout the day Friday, the House chamber had the feeling of a place where history was being made. Lobbyists, administration officials and even the stray senator - in this case, Colorado Sen. Mark Udall - worked the hallways off the floor to push fence-sitters in one direction or another.

Even as the House raced toward a Fourth of July recess, Republicans unwittingly gave Democrats more time to whip their members Friday by calling for a series of amendments to an unrelated spending bill. When the Republicans realized what was happening, they quickly tried to withdraw the amendments, but the Democrats wouldn't let them.

As Democrats continued to wrangle votes, Republican leaders tried to hold the line on defections – and to pave the way to use the bill against vulnerable Democrats.

Boehner said Friday morning that the bill would be "one of the defining votes of this Congress,” and he described it as a “new tax” that will have an impact on “every single American.”

Republicans have taken to calling the measure – formally known as the “American Clean Energy and Security Act” – a “national energy tax.”

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said the bill wasn’t about costs or benefits but “ideology.”

Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton took note of the force with which Democratic leaders were whipping their members, telling California Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher: “Congratulations on your confirmation to head up Arms Control at the State Department. You have your work cut out for you because at the end of the day today, you are going to need to repair a lot of arms on your side of the aisle.”

At the White House on Thursday, Obama declared: “Now is the time to act.” Former Vice President Al Gore, who had planned to rally Democrats en masse in Washington, stayed home in Tennessee so he could press members one by one via telephone.

Pelosi plied undecided members with chocolate-covered Dove bars in a series of small group meetings. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel worked the phones, and administration officials whipped members at a White House luau Thursday night.

Passage of the bill is a testament to the work of its main sponsors, Markey and Waxman, who spent months negotiating the details of the legislation to satisfy lawmakers from across the country. The final 1,201-page bill includes compromises for Michigan auto interests, Rust Belt manufacturers, Texas oil refineries, Midwestern farmers and Southeastern coal companies.

Obama highlighted those compromises on Thursday, calling the legislation “balanced” and “sensible” in a brief public statement designed to nudge undecided Democrats into the yes column.

“I urge every member of Congress, Democrat and Republican, to come together and support this legislation,” he said during a brief Rose Garden event. “I know this is going to be a close vote.”

Behind the scenes, the administration worked hard to help the Democratic leadership garner support for the legislation. Obama, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other administration officials have been calling skeptical lawmakers from both parties for weeks. Energy adviser Carol Browner met with several on-the-fence lawmakers Thursday.

Emanuel met Wednesday with a group of wavering House Democrats. White House adviser David Axelrod explained the importance of the legislation in a morning meeting with the entire Democratic Caucus, telling the assembled lawmakers that the bill is a priority for the president. He also highlighted the legislation’s importance to independent voters and said voters would reward Democrats at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue “for governing,” according to one attendee.

Waxman and Markey held a series of meetings with fence-sitters late Wednesday night, calling together moderate Republicans, upstate New Yorkers, Democrats from the Ways and Means Committee and farm-state Democrats.

Members of the Democrats’ whip team hit the floor Thursday with district-by-district statistics showing that the legislation would save money for members’ constituents.

During the last votes of the day, Markey, Texas Rep. Gene Green — a very reluctant supporter — and Caucus Chairman John Larson leaned over Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar in a heated discussion until Cuellar finally shook Markey’s hand and the huddle broke up. That scene played out again and again Thursday and Friday as Democrats felt the full weight of the White House and its leadership bear down on them.