Hey policy team (@Dana Nuccitelli, @Brett Cease, and others on the govt affairs staff)
Can I ask the same question as last October?
While researching an appreciation for our lobby team, @Nicholas Weiner found out that our MoC cosponsored the
H.R.5067 - Empowering Electric Grid Reliability Act
The text is only a page or two long, and to my untrained eye, seems reasonable and innocuous?
1- Does CCL have a take on this policy? (So our chapter can know whether to be enthusiastically or cautiously grateful to the Congressmember, or just not bring it up.)
2- I noticed the partisan makeup of the cosponsors. I'm wondering (suspicious, frankly) why Democratic representatives are not cosponsoring.
3- (Probably not, given #2, but just in case,) Is this something that we want to support as a wider organization?
with gratitude,
Debbie
Hi @D C. Innocuous is a reasonable way to describe it. The bill would just task the DOE with conducting a study on supply chain needs for local electrical distribution (not long-distance electrical transmission) for things like electrical transformers. If you want to use it as an appreciation for your MOC, for something like ‘recognizing the importance of a stable and secure electrical grid,’ and then connecting that to the permitting reform primary ask, I think that would be a good lobbying plan.
Thanks!! Super grateful to have staff help us with reading these.
followup~
Is the bill useful? If so, why can't they get bipartisan support?
Is it simply due to the bill asking for too little for such a large scale problem? If other small bills can be marker bills, why not this one?
Or does it do nothing at all, and that's why there isn't more support?
(Also note ~ The only potential flag I noticed was at the penultimate sentence in Section 2c (2) Definition - Supply Chain, where it talks about minerals and mining.)
I can't speak for the MOCs, @D C, but in general they need a reason to proactively co-sponsor a bill. That indicates more than just general support and a willingness to vote for it. It means they're particularly enthusiastic about the bill. And I think it often also requires outreach from the bill's sponsors, or someone else to bring it to their attention and make the case for why they should co-sponsor it.
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