Last Monday, I wrote that there were two big fights in Congress to look out for, the reauthorization of poor children's health insurance and an increase in fuel efficiency standards. Both are cake. Easy. Progressive stuff. Popular. One looks like it will pass and one looks like it won't. Children will get insured, but we aren't near dealing with global warming. It's a pretty standard brew, actually, with Steny Hoyer and other conservative Democrats all in favor of spending money.
Both Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) told reporters earlier this week that CAFE likely will not be part of the summer energy package.
But environmental groups and other advocates of the Markey bill are continuing to press for a vote next week and say they believe they can pick up enough support to pass the legislation.
"We are working on the expectation that it will come up next week," said Dan Becker, a CAFE expert with the Sierra Club. "We're working to get the votes, and I think we will win them in time to get a vote."
Auto industry representatives -- who backed an alternate version put together by moderate Democrats and Republicans -- also say they have received no indication that CAFE is off the table for next week's debate.
A face-saving compromise is likely here, one that concedes to Dingell's wishes. On insuring poor kids, it looks like the votes are there in the Senate. The Republicans are probably going to swap lots of amendments in there to try to prevent an increase of SCHIP funding, and if they succeed it'll be because Harry Reid packed the schedule in hopes that Democrats can avoid being called the 'do nothing Congress'. And a Bush veto looms.
I don't have a moral of the story here. It's just an update.
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