How Is Obama Doing With Climate Legislation?

So much for sick-outs.

The Environment and Public Works Committee of the U.S. Senate approved the Kerry-Boxer Bill by a vote to 11-1. Max Baucus, D-Mont., voted against it because he wants to see greenhouse gases capped at 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020. The bill calls for a 20 percent reductions. The Republicans on the committee stayed home.

Other committees, however, want to vote on the bill so the full Senate may not vote on a bill until next year. That means President Obama will have to go to Copenhagen without a signed piece of legislation.

While that might be seen as a setback, the push on carbon legislation has been pretty interesting. Right after the inauguration, we talked to various policy makers and venture capitalists. Some said the complexities and conflicting interests meant that a carbon bill wouldn't become law until a second term. Washington analyst KC Mares said that the President might have to make the benefits more regional – i.e. let Michigan and industrial states keep more of the money from any cap and trade system – to make any bill politically palatable. Steve McBee, another Washington consultant, predicted that carbon legislation wouldn't pass this year but might make it before the 2010 elections.

The Kerry-Boxer bill and the companion Waxman-Markey aren't enacted yet, and they will face opposition, but overall progress seems to be on track.