Reid and Kerry Pushing for Thanksgiving Deadline on Energy and Climate Change Bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the Senate climate change bill's lead sponsor, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), are planning strategies for a comprehensive energy and climate change bill that would impose a Thanksgiving deadline for the remaining five committees to act. The initial deadline for action set by Reid was late September, but so far only one of the six panels of jurisdiction, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has acted. The health care debate has taken longer than many thought, and is drawing the majority of resources and attention presently in the Senate. Senator Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee and co-sponsor of the Senate climate bill, is hoping to get multiple hearings on the Kerry-Boxer bill as well as a markup done shortly after the end of the month. AGC opposed the House-passed version in June and encourages members to contact their senators in opposition to the bill by using the AGC Legislative Action Center.