Newly minted Democrat Arlen Specter is walking a political tight
rope on cap and trade. Facing a liberal primary challenge from
Joe Sestak, he has told the Democratic base he's on board with
their vision of climate change legislation. But representing a
manufacturing state that could be hard hit by such a policy,
Specter is exercising his characteristic caution. From the
New York Times:
While most environmentalists viewed the bill as being far
weaker than the legislation crafted by Boxer and other
Democratic leaders, Specter nonetheless was one of the few
congressional Republicans to attach his name to a climate
change bill.
Specter, however, has yet to endorse the Kerry-Boxer bill,
saying that he believed the bill could be structured in a way
that is "economically responsible" and "environmentally
effective" but also saying that it needed a number of
modifications. Among them: the inclusion of a price collar
guaranteeing more price certainty than the House version, a
combination of incentives and payments to ensure commercial
deployment of carbon capture technology, and the inclusion of
adequate allowances to protect energy-intensive manufacturing.
Cap and trade is going to prove an even tougher sell than health
care.
