Setting the Stage for Climate Change Policy
Nov 30th, 2009 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicyIn case you hadn’t heard, Washington is girding its loins for the Next Big Fight, even though the Last Big Fight isn’t over yet. Congressional Democrats are evidently already internally bickering over the health care reform versus climate change legislation debate. According to some news reports, one set of Democrats says that energy legislation should wait in the wings until health care reform is done. Others argue that action on climate change legislation is needed now, before those pesky midterm elections start getting in the way. And that is a reasonable concern. Republican resistance to either the House or the Senate version of climate change legislation is likely to be stiff.
The MicroEnterprise Journal will be examining climate change proposals more thoroughly and in more detail as the process proceeds. In the meantime, I note that the relevant House and Senate Committee held a combined seven days of hearings, including testimony from a combined 122 public and private sector witnesses. And yet, among all that expert witness testimony, no one was invited to speak to the impact of the issue or of this legislative proposal on small or microbusinesses. Then again, the organizations that usually speak for microbusinesses (the NASE and the NSBA)have had little to say about these particular legislative proposals. We can expect that will change, possibly when they are less preoccupied with proposed health care reform measures.
