Democrats in the House and Senate handed President Barack Obama a double dose of bad news yesterday when they moved to delay on his top legislative priorities, healthcare and climate change. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said they would put off work on the climate change bill until September while in House Blue Dog Democrats released a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer saying that the House should “pare back some of the cost-drivers to produce a bill that we can afford.”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama suffered a double-barreled setback in Congress on Thursday when members of his own party moved to apply the brakes on his top legislative priorities, healthcare and climate change.
Obama has demanded urgent and simultaneous attention to overhauling healthcare and addressing climate change, saying both were necessary to boost the U.S. economy, which is in a deep recession.
He has demanded that Congress send him a bill by October to cut healthcare costs and provide medical coverage to most of the 46 million uninsured Americans. The president wants climate change legislation before year’s end.
While Obama was in Italy on Thursday encouraging world leaders to intensify the fight against global warming, legislation to cut U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases suffered a delay in the Senate.
The leading Senate committee responsible for developing the climate change legislation put off for at least a month work on a bill, leaving less time for Congress to fulfill Obama’s desire to enact a law this year.
“We’ll do it as soon as we get back” in September from a month-long break, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, announced.
Earlier this week, Boxer said her committee had planned to complete work on a bill by early August.
Call me crazy but I think the Obama agenda is probably dead… Given the Presidents falling approval ratings, the still sputtering economy and rising unemployment I think it’s very likely the December will roll around and there will be no passed and signed climate change bill, no healthcare bill and no financial reform bill.
Simply put Democrats aren’t going to want to head into an election year as the party who saddled Americans with billions in new taxes and sputtering economy.
Related
- Obama agenda stalls on Capitol Hill – Washington Times
- Cap-and-Trade or Duck-and-Hide? – Jennifer Rubin, Commentary Magazine
- Voters Trust GOP More than Democrats on Eight of 10 Key Issues – Rasmussen Reports
- Get Ready for 14 Percent Unemployment – Real Clear Markets
- Bid to clip Fed’s wings gains support in Congress – Reuters