Senate Climate Bill Invests Big in Transit, Reaps Big Deficit Reduction

As the Copenhagen climate talks reach a turning point,
congressional negotiations over emissions cuts are taking a back seat
to global debate. But some undeniably good news on the domestic front
came late yesterday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
(CBO).

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) described the Copenhagen talks this week as a motivator for Senate climate action. (Photo: Getty)

The CBO found that the Senate environment committee's climate bill, which would nearly triple
the House's investment in clean transportation, would decrease the
federal deficit by "about $21 billion" during its first 10 years and
result in net spending decreases even after that point.

Environment panel chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) was elated by the CBO's report [PDF],
which also attached a $16 billion estimate to the bill's 10-year
funding for transit, land use, bike-ped infrastructure and other green
transport.

Boxer said in a statement:

But unfortunately, the money-saving news may not be enough to save the environment committee's framework, which sparked a GOP boycott and fears that moderate Democrats from coal-dominant states would ultimately withhold their votes.

Boxer's
co-sponsor on the climate bill, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), is separately
working with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) on
a compromise climate proposal aimed at winning 60 votes in the upper
chamber of Congress.

That bill is expected to include new
subsidies for nuclear power as well as an emissions cap lower than the
environment panel's version. Whether it maintains a respectable level
of support for clean transportation remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Boxer's GOP counterpart on the committee, Sen. Jim Inhofe (OK), stopped in Copenhagen for just two hours today to crow that a U.S. climate bill has "zero" chance of winning congressional passage.