Kerry takes marquee on climate bill
by Lisa Lerer
When Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) released her long-awaited climate bill on Wednesday, the first surprise came in the first line: “Mr. Kerry (for himself and Mrs. Boxer) introduced the following bill.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tapped John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, to shepherd the climate bill through the Senate.
The bill will be marked up and voted on by Boxer’s committee. But it’s Kerry who’s getting top billing.
Democratic aides, environmentalists and lobbyists say it’s a reflection of the difficulty involved in getting the bill passed. But some Democratic aides also see in the assignment a knock on Boxer, who tried but failed to pass the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill last year.
“Boxer may own the largest jurisdiction on this issue, but the thought is that Kerry will have more jurisprudence when sitting at the negotiating table,” said one Democratic aide who works closely on climate issues.
Although the Lieberman-Warner bill cleared Boxer’s committee last year, some Democratic staffers complain that the Californian failed to get enough moderate Democrats invested in the legislation to get passage through the Senate.
The “process is different this time,” noted one leadership aide. “We’re bringing in more committees earlier.”
By the time the new bill moves through the Senate, six committees will have had a whack at it: Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources, Finance, Foreign Relations and Environment and Public Works. Reid will eventually combine their work into one comprehensive bill.
Asked Wednesday why he — rather than Boxer — is getting the lead role on the bill, Kerry said: “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Sen. Reid. But I’ve been at it a long time.”
The Massachusetts Democrat has a long history of working on climate issues, particularly as they relate to international affairs. He met his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, at the U.N. environmental conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Other chairmen would not comment on why Kerry became the lead sponsor of the legislation.
“Obviously, they feel comfortable with that, and that’s the important thing,” said Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), who passed an energy bill out of his committee in June. “They obviously think this is the right arrangement.”
But ownership of large pieces of legislation is closely watched — and remembered — both on and off Capitol Hill.
“I would remind you that long before Sen. Boxer and Sen. Kerry were involved in this issue, Sen. Joe Lieberman and I brought to the floor the bill and had votes on it. So I will not take a back seat to anyone on the issue of climate change,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters on Wednesday.
Both Boxer and Kerry say they worked closely together on the legislation that was introduced Wednesday. Staffers say the two exchanged daily phone calls, frequently calling each other at home on the weekends.
“Sen. Kerry’s staff and my office have been a team, working together for weeks and weeks and often late into the night,” said Boxer.
But at a news conference about the legislation — named the Kerry-Boxer bill — Boxer repeatedly referred to Kerry as the “author” of the bill.
And although one of the critical issues that was left out of the bill — the distribution of billions of dollars of allowances — will be described in the chairman’s mark, authored by Boxer, Kerry will have a heavy hand in its drafting.
“Sen. Kerry is going to continue to work hand in hand with our committee on these allowances,” Boxer said.
And Boxer supporters say that the bill’s name is not necessarily a reflection of leadership. Just look at last year’s process, they say, when Boxer played a key role pushing the Lieberman-Warner bill through the Senate.
In March, Kerry hosted a dinner at his Georgetown home to discuss how to move climate change legislation through the Senate. Attendees included Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Todd Stern, the State Department’s special envoy for climate change, energy and climate czar Carol Browner, science and technology adviser John Holdren and Stern’s deputy, Jonathan Pershing. Economic adviser Larry Summers was to be there, too, but canceled after Obama called him away for a last-minute meeting.
Over the summer, he increased his efforts, making the case that climate change was a national security in the hope of using the argument to get more Republicans on board.
And he played a key role in drafting the legislation and reaching out to moderate Democrats on both sides of the aisle. He wrote a title of the legislation that increased funding for nuclear research and development and worker training, say Senate aides, a top concern for Republicans and some moderate Democrats.
The bill faces a steep uphill climb in the Senate. The Democratic Caucus is divided over the legislation, with many rural and manufacturing state senators pushing for a slower approach and more liberal members advocating for stricter cuts for greenhouse gases.
