Bush, Dems jockeying over energy bill laurels

Congressional Democrats and President Bush are fighting over who should get credit for an energy bill that would force new automobiles to be more fuel efficient and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

After suffering repeated setbacks in a bruising year-end stretch, and having been forced by the White House to jettison two major components of the energy bill, Democrats say they should reap the political benefits after the House passes the measure Tuesday.

{mosads}Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats’ top campaign strategist, said Bush was only “vaguely” in favor of the first increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in more than 30 years and had “very little” to do with the bill’s approval. “He was not involved in the legislative process at all. The only credit he gets is that he says he’s not going to veto it. That’s not much credit,” Schumer said.

Even though the White House has been lukewarm to a congressional mandate increasing CAFE standards, Bush is likely to trumpet enactment to boost his environmental legacy, which is under fire on issues ranging from global warming to toxic waste cleanups.

The White House, which may hold a signing ceremony as early as Wednesday, also says that it was the president who helped shape the final package since Congress responded to a host of administration concerns. White House officials also say that Congress followed the course Bush charted in his 2007 State of the Union address, in which he called on lawmakers to reduce gasoline use by 20 percent in 10 years, in part by undertaking efforts to “modernize” the CAFE program.

Republicans say the Democratic energy plan would have hit a brick wall if it were not for an engaged White House seeking to strike a balance with the Democratic-led Congress.

“Without question, some of the credit is due,” Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said of the White House. “This is the president who stood in the well of the House and said during the State of the Union that ‘America is addicted to oil and we should do something about it.’ ”

Putnam noted that this energy bill will be the second Bush has signed since coming to office, adding that “He has a pattern of working with the Congress to implement energy bills that actually expand access to lower-cost energy that is domestically produced, reducing our dependence on people who don’t like us.”

 The fight over the fallout over the legislative accomplishment highlights a broader struggle between Republicans and Democrats over how voters perceive each party in the run-up to the 2008 elections. After seeing much of their agenda stifled by an unyielding president wielding veto threats and a largely united Republican Conference, Democrats are trying to dispel the notion that the 110th Congress has been mismanaged.

Democrats say the energy bill shows that Congress under their leadership is moving in a new direction after years of “inaction from Washington Republicans,” according to talking points circulated by House Democratic leaders last week.

However, Democrats were forced to make significant changes to the energy bill under the threat of a veto. First they dropped a requirement that utilities increase their reliance on renewable fuels in their electricity production, which had generated solid White House and GOP opposition. When that change failed to deliver enough votes to break a GOP filibuster, they eliminated a hefty tax package that included incentives for renewable power and energy efficiency offset by the repeal of about $13 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas companies.

After those changes, Democrats were left with a requirement to increase CAFE standards for cars and trucks by 35 miles per gallon by 2020, as well as a requirement that reliance on renewable sources should be ramped up four-fold by 2022.

The CAFE increase, coupled with the renewable fuels standard, will slash carbon dioxide emissions by 9 percent over the next 23 years and reduce daily oil consumption by 5 million barrels per day, according to the bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy.

Democrats call the bill “historic,” saying they are delivering on one of their 2006 campaign promises to implement a new national energy policy based on better efficiency, conservation measures and more reliance on renewable energies, such as solar, wind and biomass.

Senate Republicans, however, insist Democrats must share credit with Republicans, including the president.

“I think there is credit to go all around,” concurred Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Republican Conference who sits on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“The White House will get credit when he [Bush] signs it,” said Sen. Pete Domenici (N.M.), the ranking Republican on the Energy Committee. “I told [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid [D-Nev.], ‘You’ll get credit too.’ And I’ll tell the president that he should invite Harry” to the signing ceremony.

Some Democrats agree that Bush should get some credit for signing the bill, but dispute the White House’s notion that the administration was instrumental in pushing the measure through Congress.

“He should get credit, but it’s something that I don’t think he can legitimately claim he led the way on,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“During the negotiations this year, I’m not aware of any significant involvement by the administration,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who sits on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

“He’s been the biggest impediment, and if Bush was supportive, we would have gone much further on CAFE than we did,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), who chairs the Environment panel.

The White House says it was involved in the negotiations, pointing to repeated letters they sent to congressional leaders as the measure was being negotiated behind closed doors. They argue that Democrats distort Bush’s energy positions, which they claim are aimed at weaning the country away from foreign oil while ensuring no ensuing economic damage.

“We congratulate the United States Senate for their effort to address the challenge of the president’s bold ‘20 in 10’ initiative,” said Dana Perino, White House press secretary, after the upper chamber’s approval of the bill last week.

Mike Soraghan contributed to this report.