Waxman-Markey markup delayed

Subcommittee markup on comprehensive energy legislation has been delayed until next week. After hearings last week, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) had hoped to begin markup this week on draft legislation he wrote with Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) The legislation includes cap-and-trade, renewable energy standards and new smart grid technology.

But it looks like the committee is falling behind schedule. From a memo Waxman issued to members of the Energy and Commerce Committee:

We wanted to report that we viewed last week’s hearings, with 68 witnesses over three days, as very helpful in airing the issues associated with the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. The hearings have spurred productive discussions between members on the legislation, which are continuing this week. We will schedule markup of the bill in the Subcommittee for next week, with the precise date to be advised shortly. [emphasis added]

There’s been a flurry of backdoor wrangling over the bill–partially because the original draft left a lot of questions unanswered. For one, the authors didn’t address what portion of cap-and-trade emissions allowances would be given away to energy-intensive industries. Nor did they decide whether the revenue would go directly to taxpayers or diverted into alternative energy resource. It seems likely that Waxman didn’t feel there was enough of a consensus to begin markup.