Several Issues Being Explored by Congressional Hearings
Energy, environment and finances are all being examined this week.
Compiled by staff
Published: Feb 23, 2009
With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. pushing for energy legislation in the spring and climate change legislation possibly in the summer, key Senate committees are holding hearings this week to further the discussions of both topics.
Also an energy forum hosted by the Center for American Progress will be attended by Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., former President Bill Clinton and senior Obama administration officials among others Monday.
On Wednesday a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will get an update on the latest global warming science. Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., plans to offer cap-and trade program in a bill limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, refineries and other sources. She has offered few details, other than the promise that it will be a simplified version of one that fell to a Senate filibuster in the summer. R.K. Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will also be appearing before the committee.
Reducing energy consumption in buildings will be addressed on Thursday by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee The panel will hear from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Portland, Ore.-based Green Building Initiative and others.
The Senate Agriculture Committee holds a hearing Wednesday on Gary Gensler's nomination to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has expressed concerns about Gensler because he was an official in the Treasury Department in 2000 when the Clinton administration backed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. That law exempted credit default swaps from regulation and some have blamed this in part for the financial crisis.
Some commodity and farm groups are worried about a potential merger between the CFTC and the SEC. Gensler recently said in response to questions from Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., that he would not rule out a merger but would favor it only if it improves regulation.
If cleared, Gensler would become Chairman of the CFTC and serve a term expiring in April of 2012.
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