Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer thinks it’s possible Democrats regain their governing trifecta in the November elections — and at the top of his agenda would be another stab at federal climate legislation.
“We would go back to the environment,” the New York Democrat on Tuesday morning told a small group of reporters gathered in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention.
Schumer said Democrats would return to the budget reconciliation process if their party swept control of the House, Senate and White House — a maneuver that allows a majority to bypass the Senate filibuster to advance party-line legislation and that was used in 2022 to pass the Inflation Reduction Act.
The IRA constituted the most ambitious federal climate investment in history, and Democrats have been going through pains to message effectively on its benefits this election season.
But climate hawks have also openly lamented that it fell short of their most grand ambitions at the start of the IRA negotiations, back when it was called “Build Back Better.”
Schumer didn’t get specific about what he wanted a climate-focused reconciliation bill to include a second time around but said he would like to see policies to zero out carbon emissions in the next 25 years. Big ticket items to fall to the wayside two years ago included a fully-funded Civilian Climate Corps and a Clean Electricity Performance Program.
“My North Star in doing the IRA … was 40 percent reduction in the amount of carbon that goes into the atmosphere by 2030,” he told reporters. “We’d like to get it to zero by 2050, and I think we can in a reconciliation bill. It’s very important.”
The senior Democrat’s climate ambitions for another reconciliation package could be furthered in the event Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who has made climate change the centerpiece of his current chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee, decides to keep that gavel in the next Congress.
While he has a chance to take the reins of the Environment and Public Works Committee with the upcoming retirement of Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Whitehouse has told POLITICO’s E&E News he might be inclined to remain atop the Budget panel to ensure the reconciliation blueprint provides for the largest climate investment possible.
Republicans, for their part, are preparing budget reconciliation plans of their own. If they win the elections, the GOP would seek to extend 2018 tax cuts. IRA provisions would also be on the chopping block.
Rail safety bill
Schumer said he was hopeful the Senate could vote on rail safety legislation before the end of September. It was inspired by last year’s East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.
The Senate Democratic leader has long promised floor action on S. 576, the “Railway Safety Act.” But the politics have gotten increasingly tricky. For one, the bill is co-sponsored by Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance. Also, many in his party oppose it.
“I had Vance in my office long before he was a vice presidential nominee,” Schumer said. “And I said, ‘Guarantee me you know 10-12 votes on this, that we could put on the floor and pass it, and we’ll get it done.’ And he said, ‘Well, there are those votes.’ And I said … ‘Give me 10 names.’ … He was unable to do that. Will that change now that he’s the [GOP] vice presidential nominee? Who knows.”
The bill’s primary sponsor, Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, has called on Schumer to schedule a vote. He’s facing his toughest Senate reelection fight.
Bipartisan rail safety legislation is also moving through the House, but Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has questioned the need for a new law.
Permitting
Unmentioned during Schumer’s pen and pad Tuesday was whether he would put muscle behind a permitting overhaul effort being spearheaded by Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).
Their bill represents what many advocates consider the best chance at a compromise between oil and gas interests and the renewable energy sector, though progressive environmentalists are chafing at any framework that doesn’t outright exclude a streamlined permitting process for fossil fuel projects.
That the American Petroleum Institute is lobbying heavily for the measure’s success has only further rattled left-leaning climate activists.
Mike Sommers, API’s CEO, told E&E News in a separate interview in Chicago on Tuesday that legislation to quicken the process for building out new energy infrastructure is priority “one, two and three” between now and the end of the year.
“The fact of the matter is, we’ve got to figure out the permitting system, and it’s for everybody, not just for oil and gas,” Amanda Eversole, API’s executive vice president and chief advocacy officer, chimed in.
Reporter Sarah Ferris contributed.
