Watching Government - Domenici tries bipartisanship

Feb. 7, 2005
A fter the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee concluded its natural gas conference on Jan. 24, Chairman Pete V. Domenici, R-NM, issued a statement calling it "the ideal way to begin bipartisan discussion about energy legislation for the 109th Congress."

A fter the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee concluded its natural gas conference on Jan. 24, Chairman Pete V. Domenici, R-NM, issued a statement calling it "the ideal way to begin bipartisan discussion about energy legislation for the 109th Congress."

He noted that gas has strong support "that crosses party lines and regional differences" and said he would "follow this conference with a series of bipartisan discussions with my committee colleagues about the surest way to incorporate the best of today's proposals into energy legislation for consideration by the committee and full Senate."

Real commitment?

Some skepticism might be warranted, particularly since HR 6, last year's comprehensive energy bill, could not survive a House-Senate conference and Democrats claimed they had been excluded from its development. Parts of the bill, such as provisions to facilitate construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48 states, were attached to other measures and passed. Most of it died amid accusations of partisanship.

The obvious question, then, is whether Democrats on Domenici's committee think his apparent commitment to bipartisanship this year is real.

"I hope you're sitting down, because it seems to be happening," a member of the committee's minority staff responded.

He explained that unlike last year, when bills were reported out of the committee with no Democratic amendments seriously entertained and every one of them defeated along party lines, Democrats and Republicans planned the natural gas conference together, and the majority is accepting the minority's suggestions for witnesses at other hearings.

"We're encouraged by that. I've been asked if the Democrats are working on their own bill as a message. That's always an option, but for the time being, we're taking the chairman at his word that he wants to include us," the minority staff member said.

The committee apparently expects to have a bill ready for mark-up in late March or early April, in contrast to the House, which probably will move ahead sooner. Its Energy and Commerce Committee anticipates taking up energy legislation in mid-February, although Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) has not announced his agenda.

Starting point

But the House panel's chief minority member, John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), apparently has an idea of what to expect.

"It is my understanding that energy legislation may move quickly in the House this year, using last year's conference report on HR 6 as a starting point for a bill," he said in a Jan. 24 letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Patrick H. Wood III.

Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, meanwhile, have continued to express their views on other issues. But they also apparently regard Domenici and the majority's bipartisan emphasis in developing a comprehensive energy bill for 2005 as more reality than rhetoric—so far.