Even as their
colleagues place
roadblocks
on energy
reform,
several members of the U.S. Senate are attempting to strengthen the
American Clean Energy and Security Act, the green
economy
legislation passed by the House of
Representatives
this June. As Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) take
the lead to write the Senate draft, many of their fellow senators have
proposed specific policy improvements:
EMISSIONS LIMITS: Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Frank
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-RI) are calling for the legislation to strengthen its
2020
target
for greenhouse pollution reductions to 20 percent below 2005 levels,
instead of the current 17 percent target. “I like the House bill,
don’t get me wrong,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD). “But I think we can
do better.” Lautenberg told reporters: “That’s the objective, as far
as I’m concerned, because the glide path has to be established that
enables us to get to 80 percent in 2050. You can’t get there unless
you start aggressively
pushing.”
GREEN TRANSPORTATION: Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) is working to
strengthen the bill’s funding for green transportation, pushing
language that would “devote a guaranteed share of revenues from carbon
regulation to transit, bike paths, and other green modes of
transport.”
The Clean, Low-Emission, Affordable, New Transportation Efficiency Act
(S. 575 /
H.R. 1329) would auction ten percent of carbon market allowances for
clean transit improvement. Senators Arlen Specter (D-PA), Jeff
Merkley (D-OR), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Ben Cardin
(D-MD) have co-sponsored the legislation.
Washington
Post
As we are moving to address some of our nation’s great challenges –
revitalizing our economy, putting Americans back to work and passing
health insurance reform – scientists are telling us we have a short
window to take the steps that are needed to avoid the ravages of
global warming. We must also act quickly to ensure America leads the
world in clean energy technology. We need to confront all of these
issues; we don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing. By creating
powerful incentives for clean energy, the bill that Sen. John Kerry
(D-Mass.) and I will introduce in September will restore our economy
and create jobs at home while reducing carbon pollution and making us
less dependent on foreign oil. John Doerr – one of the nation’s
leading venture capitalists, who helped launch Google and
Amazon.com—has predicted that the investment capital that will flow
into clean energy will dwarf the amount invested in high-tech and
biotech combined. It will create millions of jobs in America –
building wind turbines, installing solar panels on homes and producing
a new fleet of electric and hybrid vehicles. We can successfully
address all of these challenges. Our forebears have set the pace ever
since our nation was founded. President Obama has reminded us that
America built the transcontinental railroad and established the
National Academy of Sciences in the midst of the Civil War. In the
1960s, we passed historic civil rights legislation even as we took on
the challenge of going to the moon. At the end of the day, leaders
have to lead when action is needed.
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Washington
Post
Cap-and-trade legislation will fail under its own weight, just like
health-care legislation. Each massive, misguided policy is being
doggedly pushed by the Obama administration and the Democratic
congressional leadership in a narrow, partisan fashion that will
contribute to and ensure its failure. We could forecast the American
outrage, based on past experience with these types of proposals, and
if the Democrats succeed in forcing these bad policies on American
families, they will be held accountable by the public. The
administration’s health-reform proposal would nationalize and
bureaucratize health care in America. Cap-and-trade, meanwhile, will
kill 2 million American jobs; shrink the household incomes of average
Americans by more than $1,000 annually; and penalize the industries
that produce our nation’s energy – at a time when we are already
concerned about the high costs of fuel and utilities. It will increase
our dependence on foreign energy imports, which is already at an
astounding 60 percent. We have seen such proposals before, and the
good news is that they have failed miserably because Americans are
well informed and understand how they could impact their lives.
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Washington
Post
As lawmakers return to Washington and assess the fiery backlash of
constituent opposition to government-run health care, those mired in
the thick of the climate change debate are wondering: What does it all
mean for us? The warring factions over climate policy should step back
and try to discern whether constituents are signaling a more basic
distrust of new government schemes. Polling data from the past several
months indicates that such public distrust is real, deep and
widespread. This means the Democrats’ government-run, cap-and-trade
scheme – in fact, an energy tax that extends into every corner of
American life – now faces an even higher hurdle, including growing
opposition from many Democrats in the Senate. Such distrust will only
grow if Democrats insist, as they did in the House, on crafting
climate legislation in their inner sanctums, with no time for serious
public input and debate. And this is exactly the course being drawn in
the Senate. Still, Washington’s appetite for spending, taxing and
regulating – cap-and trade contains elements of each – is boundless.
So, despite having public opinion on our side, those opposed to
cap-and-trade are facing a monumental battle this fall in the Senate.
There will be a mad race for 60 votes, and the outcome will
reverberate beyond 2010.
E&E News “I’d like to
hear what they have to say about it before I shoot my mouth off,”
Bennet’s signed on as co-sponsor to a bill from Sen. Tom Udall,
(D-N.M.) and Udall of Colorado that would enact a 25-percent-by-2025
renewable electricity standard. “It’s been an enormous positive for
Colorado,” Bennet said. “The market adapted. Our evidence is that it
works.” When it comes to Colorado’s fossil fuels, Bennet for now is
stepping behind natural gas, calling for it to have a bigger role in
the Senate bill. “It was essentially absent from the House bill,”
Bennet said. “I’d like to know why that is.” Bennet said he also sees
“opportunities to tie together natural gas with intermittent power
sources like sun and wind.” “I don’t have any specifics today,” Bennet
said about what he wants to see. “I’m talking with people in the
environmental community and natural gas people and hearing what their
ideas are.” “In Colorado now we’re confronting these issues because of
the water shortages that we have,” Bennet said. “If we are going to be
able to assure that another generation of Coloradans are able to farm,
or one after that, we need some answers to these questions how do we
preserve our water resources.”
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
E&E News Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has long
advocated price controls as part of a cap-and-trade bill, including a
“safety valve” in previous versions of his own. “I think it’s
something that makes a lot of sense to look at,” Bingaman said. “These
cap-and-trade bills have so many pieces,” Bingaman said. “I don’t know
that you can point to one thing and say, ‘Stick that in and everyone
jumps on board.’ I think it’s much more complicated than that.”
Kit Bond (R-MO)
E&E News Sen. Kit Bond
(R-Mo.) complained during an EPW Committee
hearing yesterday about comments from Boxer and Kerry that they may
not even be putting out allocation language with their draft bill in
early September. “That troubles me a great deal,” Bond said. “We can’t
leave these allocations blank, placeholders, if we’re going to give
Americans a fair, open and transparent view of the legislation.”
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
E&E News Barbara Boxer
(D-Calif.) is considering a “price collar” for her global warming bill
that could help to curb the economic costs from a cap-and-trade
program. “I don’t know why we can’t consider this as one more way to
give more certainty,” Boxer said during a hearing today. “I’m looking
at it, is what I’m saying.”
Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
E&E News Among other
things, the senators said they would seek a “border adjustment
mechanism” that could slap trade sanctions on carbon-intensive goods
from developing countries that do not have strong enough climate
policies. “In the absence of an adequate international agreement, a
border measure could help to prevent countries from responding to
climate change less rigorously than the United States and undercutting
the effectiveness of our climate policy by shifting, rather than
reducing, greenhouse gas emissions,” the senators wrote. Other
Senators that signed on: Russ Feingold (D-WI), Carl Levin (D-MI), Evan
Bayh (D-IN), Robert Casey (D-PA), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Jay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Al Franken (D-MN)
New York
Times
As Congress considers energy and climate legislation,” the senators
wrote, “it is important that such a bill include provisions to
maintain a level playing field for American manufacturing.” “It is
essential that any clean energy legislation not only address the
crisis of climate change, but include strong provisions to ensure the
strength and viability of domestic manufacturing,” the letter said.
“E&E News’:http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2009/08/05/1/ Sen. Kit Bond
(R-Mo.) criticized the power companies for even trying to negotiate
with congressional Democrats. Either way, he said, the electric
utilities lose. “That’s bargaining with somebody on how they’re going
to hang you,” Bond said. “They’ll hang you with minimal pain, or
they’ll torture you to death.”
Max Baucus (D-MT)
E&E News “So let us
see if we can figure out how to distribute emission allowances in a
way that one might call just,” Baucus said at a hearing on allocations
today. “Let us see if we can figure out how to give all Americans what
they deserve.” “The House bill provided solid relief to low-income
Americans through these means,” he said. “The Senate should match it,
or build on it.” “I don’t want to prejudge at this point,” he said. “I
just want to take a good, strong, hard, fresh look at allowances to
see what makes sense. Everything can be improved upon.”
CQ
“I doubt it’ll be major. There’ll be some,” Senate Finance Chairman
Max Baucus , D-Mont., said Tuesday, when asked about changes to the
allocation formula.
WV Metro
News
“There are a number of ways to use allowance revenues to mitigate the
cost of climate legislation on consumers and businesses,” Senator
Baucus said. “For example, Congress could use the money from
auctioning allowances to cut taxes by cutting marginal rates, by
cutting capital gains rates, by cutting payroll taxes or by doing all
of the above.”
ENews
USA
He said, “Economists expect that these allowances will have a value,
like cash. Thus, many argue that the government should not just give
these allowances away. Many argue that the government should auction
them, and return the proceeds to consumers. Others argue that the
government should allocate a portion of the allowances to regulated
companies. Doing so would soften the effects of putting a price on
carbon.” . . . “Allowances will have significant value. In 2012, the
first year of the program in the House-passed bill, the Congressional
Budget Office [CBO] puts their value at about $60 billion. For the
period of 2010 to 2019, they amount to more than $870 billion.” Baucus
cites the CBO which says, “[T]he creation
of allowances by the government should be recorded as revenues. That
logic does not hinge on whether the government sells or, instead,
gives away the allowances. Allowances would have significant value
even if given away because the recipients could sell them or, in the
case of a covered entity, use them to avoid incurring the cost of
compliance.”
Washington
Post
“We want an America in which we create hundreds of thousands of ‘green
jobs,’ but not at the expense of destroying tens of millions of red,
white and blue jobs.”
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Washington
Post
“It’s very hard for Congress to do one big thing, much less do a
couple of really big issues at the same time,” said Sen. Byron L.
Dorgan (D-N.D.), whose state produces coal as well as wind power.
Dorgan, who could be a swing vote on a climate bill, said he believes
in capping carbon emissions, but not this way. He fears that
cap-and-trade will create a market open to manipulation, like existing
securities markets. He remains noncommittal about his ultimate vote.
“We have a whole mountain range to climb before we get there,” he
said.
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Washington
Post
“What they did, we’ll keep,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman
of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “We’re going to maybe do some
other things that would maybe embellish what they did in the House.”
He wants to be more generous with “carbon offset” programs that allow
farmers to be paid for no-till agriculture that keeps carbon in the
soil.
Mike Johanns (R-NE)
Delta Farm
Press “If
the United States passes this bill (without China and India), we’re
not going to impact temperatures to any significant degree. Isn’t that
correct?” “‘Because overall land area and crops decline due to
aforestation, the modeling indicates a net decrease in total
agricultural soil carbon storage as carbon is transferred from
agricultural soils to the aforestation pool.’ “The whole purpose of
this hearing is just to be honest with people. So, what’s going out of
production? The important thing about that is it affects the pork
producer, the cattle guy — it beats the living daylights out of them.
Why? Because prices will go up. They’re out there saying, ‘Look, my
input costs are going to go up with electricity, natural gas,
fertilizer.’ “Just tell them: how many acres are going out of
production?” “Many of the offsets (Vilsack) speaks about wouldn’t go
to the row crop person to offset his higher energy, fertilizer and
other costs,” Johanns continued. “It would go to the person who is
planting the forestland. “But, again, unless you can quantify this,
you can’t sell this plan. It becomes the ‘hope and a prayer’ plan for
agriculture because you can’t tell farmers and ranchers what they’ll
be exposed to in terms of input costs. That’s a huge issue.” It’s no
consolation “to stand with one foot in the campfire and one in the ice
bucket and say, ‘on average, I’m in good shape,’” said Johanns. “It’s
no consolation to tell farmers and ranchers, ‘you’re going to be in
good shape, on average,’ if you don’t know the regional differences,
the crop differences, if you can’t tell them how much land will go out
of production. “And yet we have a House bill (Waxman/Markey) that
passed. I find that shocking. I find it amazingly shocking that could
happen without the aforementioned information being available.
Billings
Gazette
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., calls it a ‘job-killer’ that would result
in “stripping red, white and blue jobs, and then subsidizing a few
green jobs in their place.”
Max Baucus (D-MT)
E&E News “We’re going
to, in the Finance Committee, have hearings on and fully intend to
mark up allowances, which allowances are free allowances, as well as
what allowances are auctioned.” “On allocations, the last time, in the
Clean Air Act, that was a much smaller deal,” Baucus said. “This is
much more important. And also, it is a tax measure. It’s a tax bill.
And if the House bill were referred to a committee, it’d be
automatically referred to the Finance Committee because of revenue.”
Kit Bond (R-MO)
Springfield
News-Leader
Blunt appeared at Saturday’s meeting with Sen. Kit Bond, who vowed to
raise a lot of questions when the bill gets to the Senate. He said
most sources are telling him it would make energy bills double.
“That’s just a guess,” said Bond. “It may only go up 50 percent, it
may go up 200 percent rather than 100 percent. Nobody really knows how
much it will cost other than it will cost.” . . . Bond said that with
China and India refusing to adopt cap-and-trade provisions, getting
the United States to abide by them won’t make a huge impact on climate
change.
Ben Cardin (D-MD)
E&E News “I like the
House bill, don’t get me wrong,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “But I
think we can do better.”
Bob Corker (R-TN)
Grist
“I didn’t think it was possible, but the Waxman-Markey climate bill
appears to be even more problematic than the climate bill that tanked
in the Senate last spring,” he said, referring to the Lieberman-Warner
bill that he voted against in 2008. “I don’t know of many special
interests that don’t receive a pay-off in this [Waxman-Markey]
legislation, and if it comes to the Senate floor in this form, I’ll
vote against it.” “I want to tell you that I wish we would just talk
about a carbon tax, 100 percent of which would be returned to the
American people. So there’s no net dollars that would come out of the
American people’s pockets.”
Mike Johanns (R-NE)
Des Moines
Register
But without more economic analysis, Vilsack is trying to sell the
climate bill on a “hope and a prayer,” says Mike Johnanns.
Johanns
“Cap-and-trade threatens to change the landscape of American
agriculture, and we need to get a better understanding of just how
deep the impact will be,” Johanns said. “It is necessary for the
Senate as well as farmers and ranchers across the country to know the
facts about how cap-and-trade will affect agriculture. I am pleased
Chairman Harkin has agreed to hold more hearings, and I hope they,
along with a committee mark-up, are scheduled soon so we can give this
critical issue a more in-depth look.”
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
E&E News “I’m using
this time to try respectfully to educate members of my caucus, and
maybe some Republicans, about the importance of natural gas, the
importance of domestic energy security, so we don’t lose that in this
debate.” Landrieu said. “It’s not just about cleaning up the
environment. It’s about securing America’s economic future. And both
are important.”
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
E&E News “That’s the
objective, as far as I’m concerned,” added Sen. Frank Lautenberg
(D-N.J.). “Because the glide path has to be established that enables
us to get to 80 percent in 2050. You can’t get there unless you start
aggressively pushing.”
John McCain (R-AZ)
Wall Street
Journal
“I believe climate change is real . . . but this 1,400-page bill is a
farce. They bought every industry off—steel mills, agriculture,
utilities,” he says. So you wouldn’t vote for the House bill? “I would
not only not vote for it,” he laughs, “I am opposed to it entirely,
because it does damage to those of us who believe that we need to act
in a rational fashion about climate change.”
E&E News “There’s a
reason why the House bill came up with its formula,” Baucus said. “And
I suppose a lot of those same reasons will apply over here, too. But
the Senate’s a little different than the House. We’ll take a fresh
look, but respective of what the House did. We’ll look at ways to make
sure U.S. companies are not taken advantage of, or discriminated
against,” he said. “The trade-related remedies is one way.”
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
E&E News “On the
energy bill to reduce our dependence, it is so centrally important to
the economy that it needs to be done as soon as we can get it done,
and there you have a chance for pretty strong bipartisan support,”
Conrad said.
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
EPW
“…The second half of it, as my colleague described, is not something
we are doing in this bill, but the ability to continue hydraulic
fracturing, decade after decade, I think for nearly 50 years, I am not
aware of any evidence that there is any contamination of groundwater
with hydraulic fracturing when companies have followed the appropriate
guidelines and regulations.”
James Inhofe (R-OK)
EPW
Minority
In the coming weeks, I intend to go through every single page of this
climate bill, revealing the massive amount of spending, the labyrinth
of new regulations, and expansion of government agencies and
programs…I think the time is right to peel back the green veil and
expose this 1,400-page monument to big government. There’s a lot in
there, and at times the bill gets very complicated. But over the next
several weeks, I plan to focus on some of the bill’s most damaging
provisions, as well as those that reinforce the criticisms I’ve been
making. Before the United States Senate moves to vote on the largest
tax increase in history, the American public deserves to know exactly
what is in this bill.
Mike Johanns (D-NE)
Des Moines
Register
“…you can have one foot in the campfire and another in the ice
bucket, and on average you’d be just right, despite the fact that
you’d be on fire. Similarly, using averages to estimate the impact of
cap-and-trade does not help farmers and ranchers to calculate the true
costs. Perhaps American agriculture will be fully on board with the
secretary after reviewing solid analysis.”
John McCain (R-AZ)
The
Hill
“It depends on whether the administration has a proposal. That’s
generally the way we work, but obviously that’s not been the case
here,” McCain said. “It also depends on whether there’s a tangible
desire for bipartisanship and whether the president decides to lead. I
think that some of us have a legitimate desire to say, ‘Well, what is
your proposal?’ to the president.”
Jay Rockefeller (R-WV)
Daily Mail
“I’m glad to hear from so many West Virginians about this really
important issue,” Rockefeller said. “I will absolutely fight for the
future of coal and jobs in our state. I will not support an energy
bill that threatens West Virginia’s future.”
In a C-SPAN interview, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) attacked Waxman-Markey,
claiming it would “wreak havoc” on Alabama’s manufacturers. Even though
a record-breaking
heatwave
has killed a woman in his state this week, the dynamic congressman now
running for governor in Alabama
explained his plan to vote against the Waxman-Markey American Clean
Energy and Security
Act
(H.R. 2998/H.R. 2454) today by arguing it would destroy his state’s
fragile economy:
“This bill is still going to wreak havoc with the manufacturing
sector in some parts of the country.”
“The Senate, for example, is not considering cap and trade. The cap
and trade provisions are the ones that frankly would damage the
manufacturing sector short term and have a lot of other unpredictable
consequences on our economy.”
“When we’re in the midst of a deep recession, we need to make sure
we’re not making a dramatic change that could cost us jobs in the
short term, because many states simply can’t afford to lose more
jobs.”
“This is the wrong time for cap and trade, this is the wrong time to
impose a renewable electricity standard on the Southeast.”
Watch it:
In fact, the Senate is continuing to work on cap-and-trade
legislation
for passage this fall, and studies have shown that states like Alabama
need the clean-energy economy to recover from the Bush-Exxon recession.
A Clean-Energy Economy Will Create 29,000 Jobs In Alabama. The
Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), the
EPA found, will “create strong demand for a
domestic manufacturing market for these next generation technologies
that will enable American workers to serve in a central role in our
clean energy transformation” and “play a critical role in the American
economic recovery and job growth.” A report from the Center for American
Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute “finds that
Alabama could see a net increase of about $2.2 billion in investment
revenue and 29,000 jobs based on its share of a total of $150 billion in
clean-energy investments annually across the country. This is even after
assuming a reduction in fossil fuel spending equivalent to the increase
in clean-energy investments. [EPA,
4/20/09;
PERI,
6/18/09]
Waxman-Markey Directs Billions Of Dollars To Energy-Intensive
Manufacturing. The Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security
Act (H.R. 2454) includes cost containment provisions, allowances for
worker assistance and training, investments in clean energy
technologies, a new clean energy deployment agency, and billions of
dollars in direct assistance to trade-vulnerable and other industries.
[Committee on Energy and Commerce,
6/9/09]
A Renewable Electricity Standard Would Reduce Costs In Alabama. The
Energy Information Administration projects that a renewable electricity
standard of 25 percent by 2025 – much stronger than the one in the
Waxman-Markey legislation – would drive electricity costs down by more
than 10 percent in Alabama and throughout the Southeast, as utilities
move away from increasingly expensive coal to renewable biomass. [EIA,
4/09]
Alabama Is Especially Susceptible To Global Warming Damages. As a
coastal state, Alabama is highly vulnerable to the devastation of
hurricanes, which will increase in intensity as the oceans warm and sea
levels rise. Rainfall is expected to decrease, increasing the rate of
devastating droughts like that of
2007.
By the end of the century, Alabama will have deadly heat waves over 90
degrees for more than four months every year. [U.S. Global Change
Program,
2009]
After long negotiations, House leadership has unveiled
the final version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R.
2454), to be voted on by the full House today. The bill’s author, Rep.
Henry Waxman (D-CA), introduced an amendment in the form of a substitute
(H.R. 2998), which incorporates a score of amendments to the
legislation. The schedule today includes five votes on the passage of
this historic bill, which would national standards for clean energy and
global warming pollution, with final vote expected at 5 PM:
H. Res.
587:
Adoption of the rule to set the terms of debate, officially three
hours in total.
H.R.
2998:
Adoption of the Waxman amendment in the nature of the substitute.
H.R.
513:
Adoption of J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) substitute, the New Manhattan
Project for Energy Independence.
Motion to recommit.
Final passage.
The final version of the Waxman-Markey act includes a mixed bag of
changes. Weakening amendments include Rep. Collin
Peterson’s
(D-MN) concessions on behalf of Big
Ag. In
exchange for a restriction of the Building Energy Performance Labeling
Program on behalf of the National Association of
Realtors,
Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s (D-CO) beneficial GREEN
Act to spur
energy-efficient homes will be adopted. Waxman included several other
beneficial changes, including the Inslee (WA)-Markey (CO) clean-grid
legislation, several critical green jobs
amendments,
and the Titus (NV)-Giffords (AZ)-Heinrich (NM) renewable energy
standard for Federal
agencies.
Below is a summary of the Waxman amendment, broken down by its the
component amendments:
Waxman
(CA):
Makes changes to accommodate States that utilize a central purchasing
model for its renewable electricity standard, and makes additional
changes.
Inslee (WA) / Markey
(CO):
Provides FERC with sitting authority for the
construction of certain high-priority interstate transmission lines
constructed in the Western Interconnection and amends the National
Interest Electric Transmission Corridors.
Peterson
(MN):
Requires the Agriculture Secretary to establish a list of types of
domestic agricultural and forestry practices that result in reductions
or avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions, exempts the agriculture and
forestry sectors from the bill’s emission caps, redefines “biomass,”
and grandfathers existing biodiesel plants to exempt them from
lifecycle analysis under the RFS.
In a 219-to-212 vote this
evening, the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act,
which will “for the first time put a price on carbon
emissions”
in the U.S. In the final minutes of the debate, House Minority Leader
John Boehner (R-OH) threatened to obstruct the
bill by reading
300 pages of amendments, but eventually relented and read only a few
sentences from selected portions. Progressive Media compiled a video
detailing the major arguments both for and against the bill. Watch it:
Despite promises that Republicans would rally against the bill, several
members defected to support it, including Reps. Dave Reichart (R-WA),
Mike Castle (R-DE), Mary Bono Mack, Mark Kirk (R-IL), Leonard Lance
(R-NJ), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and John McHugh
(R-NY). 44 Democrats
voted against the legislation. Reps. John Lewis (D-GA) and Pat Kennedy
(D-RI) both returned to the floor for the first time after tending to
significant health issues to support the
legislation.