A couple of congressmen see little chance that their colleagues will pass a national energy policy bill this year.
Speaking at an energy conference Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said he suspects the bill will not pass, while Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, held out slim hopes.
Craig said the Senate has "a narrow window of opportunity" when it meets in September.
"The question will be, quite simply, I do believe, is the opposition going to allow this president another major policy victory — a domestic policy victory — prior to the election," Craig said during a daylong conference about electric restructuring in the West sponsored by the Center for the New West, a Boise-based think tank.
"And if the answer is no, it's not going to happen. If the totality of the energy policy is so important — and maybe $44 oil this morning will help that along — then it is possible that that narrow window, we can jump through it and get ourselves a policy before adjournment."
"I suspect that it's not going to get passed," Cannon said. "It's just a guess. And I hope America holds the opposition accountable for that, because this is something we need to do."
Bill supporters have said the nation's aging energy infrastructure needs improvement and that the bill can make that happen. But the bill has been hung up in the Senate, to the frustration of Craig and others.
"Energy and what we're attempting to do in Washington is not a partisan issue. It really crosses party lines," he said. "There are those who believe there is a free lunch and that somehow they can hold down rates to consumers by the federal regulatory process. And there are some who are finally beginning to recognize that you do have to invest in the system and that energy built today is going to cost more than energy built 50 years ago."
He described the U.S. energy system as "phenomenal, . . . but it's a system we've built that we're relying on today and not the constant updating and modernization . . . that is necessary."
The president has been talking to congressmen to emphasize the importance of passing the bill, he said. "It's more than just a one-liner in a speech," Craig said. "This president has become increasingly involved, I think, in recognizing the importance of it to the country."
Bush could lose during the November election, but Craig said that should not derail energy policy bill efforts.
"I frankly believe we have such little time to waste, and we've been hung up now in a really irresponsible way for longer than we should have. . . . We've cobbled it together a pretty good bit, and for us to go back through extensive months and months of hearings? Absolutely not," he said.
As for a possible presidential change, he said, "I don't think it stalls the process out terribly long. I think there's a sense of urgency there that we'd better move on with this thing. We've just been stymied and stalemated the last five to six months in Washington, largely because of presidential politics."
Both Craig and Cannon said a crisis may be necessary to prompt action. Cannon said it "may be what it takes to move us to the next level."
Craig sees the recession as a window of opportunity to make infrastructure improvements.
"It's really amazing to me we do not respond as a country until we are in crisis, and right now we have the luxury of being out of it for the moment. But all of us know well that we're back into it the moment this economy really turns on again, and we've not in the interim done all the right things necessary."
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