Energy Bill Supporters Getting Nervous as Progress Stalls
By Jack Fitzpatrick, Morning Consult.
Outside observers are getting antsy waiting for the House and Senate to convene a conference committee to reconcile the differences between their wide-ranging energy bills.
Lobbyists and advocates offered mixed responses when asked by Morning Consult if they were confident lawmakers could hash out the differences between the bills. In a rare move, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a “key vote letter” on Monday, urging senators to support an eventual vote on whether to go to conference.
The House has already voted to go to conference on the Senate’s energy bill, but before doing so, it amended the bipartisan Senate bill to include language from its own bill, which had little support among Democrats. It then added several smaller Republican bills to the package that had prompted complaints and veto threats from the White House.