Nick Snow
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 20 -- After weeks of silence regarding a possible conference to reconcile differences between comprehensive energy bills passed by the US House and Senate earlier this year, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's staff began bicameral discussions about the contents of the measures.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), with the blessing of majority leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), asked the committee's staff to host the discussions, a committee spokesman said on Sept. 20. "These meetings are not to decide the fate of any provisions, but to allow Senate staff to become familiar with the background of the House bill provisions, and vice versa," he said.
The discussions were scheduled to begin with Titles IV and IX of the House's 1,003-page energy bill and include related sections from the Senate's legislation. Talks would continue on Sept. 21 but recess at midday for Yom Kippur and resume on Sept. 24, with a goal of covering all the material in both bills by the end of that week, the committee spokesman said.
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