Okay, the suspense, at least on one important item, CAFE, is over for the moment. The "Washington Post" reports House Drops Tougher Auto Fuel Economy. Go to Speaker Pelosi's statement in which she says " we will have an opportunity to address this issue shortly. The Senate energy bill does contain a CAFE provision, which I support."
The remaining issue then is the Renewable Portfolio Standard. I guess we'll have to wait to see until tomorrow and the Rules Committee meeting whether or not the Udall-Platts amendment on the RPS will be given consideration on the floor on Friday. For a little more background and some of the politics of this, here's a story from "The Gristmill" from the other day on the powerful MoveOn.org's endorsement of the RPS.
There was an earlier article at the "Washington Post" today, Democrats Lack Unity in House Over Energy Bill. That's the understatement of the day.
These politics are murder. Unfortunately, even though every public poll indicates widespread support for increasing our energy efficiency and our use of renewables, and from across the political spectrum, including, increasingly, even traditional conservative groups like Evangelical Christians, some of the political factions in Congress seem stuck in their old thinking. Anyway, no matter what happens on Thursday in the Rules Committee and Friday on the floor, the conference is going to be epic.
