Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Climate Change

Grassley: ‘Two or Three Other’ Republicans Open to Climate Change Deal

The Senate's propensity for filibusters, delay, and fruitless attempts at bipartisan deal-making is earning it quite the reputation these days. And climate change legislation, with its big-ticket implications for transit and urban development in general, is becoming increasingly caught up in the Senate's peripatetic politics.

t1home.grassley.gi.jpgSen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) (Photo: CNN)

The
Finance Committee held a hearing today on the job-creating implications
of its climate bill, which would set aside hundreds of millions of
dollars for annual clean transportation grants. Neither the transit
industry nor the renewable energy sector was invited to testify,
although two oil industry-backed witnesses were brought in to criticize the measure.

During
the hearing, Finance chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) sounded hopeful notes
about the need to address carbon emissions. "We should recognize that
in the case of [regulating] acid rain, the
negative consequences were far less than projected," Baucus said. "We
should keep this
in mind when similar claims are made about the effects of legislation
to
address climate change."

And on a conference call with
reporters today, the Finance panel's senior Republican, Chuck Grassley
(IA), gave a reluctant but upbeat assessment of GOP senators' openness
to a bipartisan climate deal:

Well, we have one, Lindsey Graham, working with [Sen. John] Kerry [D-MA] on some sortof a compromise -- if it would include nuclear and would includeoffshore drilling. I don't know whether that's good enough to offsetthe bad that's in the bill or not. I don't think it's good enough forme. But you'll at least him working there. And I wouldn't want to say that there's not two or three other senators.

Two
or three Republicans is not a lot, to be sure. But the climate bill
will need all the votes it can muster to surmount a Senate that's dominated by smaller, rural states -- such as Baucus' and Grassley's.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

City Committee Approves HLA Minimum Standards, Requests Clarification for Crosswalks

A year after voters approved Measure HLA, the city approved its HLA Standard Elements Table which clarifies what minimum features will be included in bus/bike/walk facilities

April 3, 2025

SGV Connect 135.2 – Memories of El Monte and The People’s Cafe

Last week, Chris visited the mutual aid group Memories of El Monte's bi-weekly food distribution at the Klingerman Apartment projects in South El Monte to interview group members and get an update on the construction of their physical location, The People's Cafe.

SGV Connect 135.1 – An Update on the Foothill Gold Line Construction Timelines

Earlier today, Damien Newton sat down with Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority CEO Habib Balian to discuss how a too-high bid will lead to a delay on Gold Line construction to Montclair

See all posts