After weeks of discussion, the Senate voted Tuesday to go to conference on its energy bill. The bill, which started out in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with strong bipartisan support, persevered through a lengthy battle on the floor of the upper chamber before heading to the House in April, where bipartisanship was quickly scrapped in favor of partisan amendments sure to garner a White House veto.
That shift to the right led negotiators in the Senate to dig their heels in, refusing to go to conference until the House negotiators had agreed to drop the controversial language. Reports out this week suggest House Republicans have now agreed to support a final conference report that does not risk veto.
While movement is nice to see, with only two days left on the legislative calendar before the summer recess, the actual conference will probably not kick off until the fall. At that time 40 House members will meet with seven senators to negotiate a final bill. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have been named at the Senate’s conferees.
The bill aims to save energy, expand domestic energy supplies, enable infrastructure investment, protect the electric grid, boost energy trade, improve the performance of federal agencies, and renew effective conservation programs.
“We have not had a major energy bill since 2005, so I am pleased that Congress is moving this process forward and sending this comprehensive energy bill to conference committee,” Sen Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said of the bill in a Tuesday statement.
