Seems like it’s time again for another update on the reconciliation rollercoaster. First, the news from over the weekend:
On Friday the House passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (BIB) with 13 Republicans voting with all but 6 Democrats. The bill includes some climate provisions that we should celebrate, but they are not on the scale needed to address the issue without further legislation. This bill passed in the Senate months ago with 69 votes and is now on the way to the President’s desk to become law.
This should free up Congress to focus fully on the budget reconciliation process. The House did not yet pass it’s version, as moderates are now holding that up waiting for a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score. The CBO score will give an estimate of the impact on the federal budget and can take weeks to compile. People are projecting a House vote by November 15th and moderates have promised to vote for it, but there may be issues depending on what the CBO score says.
Remember that once the House votes on the budget it will go to the Senate where they are likely to make significant changes. So, we should not get too caught up in the details on this version from the House.
In the Senate, negotiations continue on reconciliation and Sen. Joe Manchin expressed hopes they can wrap up negotiations by Thanksgiving. Even if they do so, it will then take a few weeks to turn an agreement into bill text and then vote on it. After a Senate vote the bill would go back to the House for a final vote before going to the president.
The press also reported that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse says 49 Senators, the House, and the White House are all on board with a carbon fee in the budget. He also said the intention is to send rebates to households.
It is a good time to pause here and be clear that we would not be seeing this level of support in Congress without all the work of CCLers both in the last few weeks and months, and over the last decade of advocacy. You all are amazing!
Now of course we know that 49 votes in the Senate is not enough to pass a bill and that Sen. Joe Manchin is that 50th vote. Sen. Whitehouse is active in the negotiations with Sen. Manchin and it’s clear that a carbon price is still on the table and they are working to find a version that would work for Sen. Manchin.
Given the continued negotiations, we are continuing to make calls to make sure members of Congress know there is strong support for a carbon fee and dividend in the budget bill. We’ve made 4,436 calls in the last week! And there is no reason to stop now as we strengthen the will of those negotiating on these critical issues.
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