senate switch affects energy bill outlook at lpm houston time today , senator james jeffords ( r - vt ) will announce that he is switching from the republican party to become an independent voting with the democrats . if this happens , control of the senate will switch to the democrats , which will give the dems a majority and control of the senate .
? all committee chairs would become democratic and the dems would control the legislative agenda
( energy bills , california bailout , possible investigation of who influenced the cheney plan etc . ) . in a profound ideological shift , sen . murkowski ( r - ak ) would be replaced by sen . bingaman ( d - nm ) as chair of the senate energy committee . when bingaman takes over the senate energy committee , expect pipeline safety issues to again come to the fore . bingaman is a strong proponent of tough pipeline safety regulation ( particularly in the wake of the carlsbad explosion last year ) and will likely insist on strict safety requirements in the cheney energy bill .
? the recommendations for loosening regulations for oil / gas drilling , coal and power as well as incentives for new generation contained in the cheney bill are likely to be heavily revised in favor of more conservation - oriented measures .
? the tax bill will likely be downsized , particularly if jeffords makes his switch immediately . the timing is important because the senate - house conference on the bill must be appointed immediately .
? all presidential appointments would be controlled by the dems . this is significant because of the large number of sub - cabinet level appointments that need to be approved .
at the same time , republicans are trying to convince sen . zell miller ( d - ga ) , who already votes republican , to switch to the republican party . if this happens , it will cancel out the expected jeffords move . initial reports are that miller will not switch .
one other caveat - - jeffords has pondered a switch in the past and then flaked out . but if jeffords goes through with it and miller stays put , the balance of power in washington will be tipped in favor of the democrats .
senate switch affects energy bill outlook
at lpm houston time today , senator james jeffords ( r - vt ) will announce that he is switching from the republican party to become an independent voting with the democrats . if this happens , control of the senate will switch to the democrats , which will give the dems a majority and control of the senate .
? all committee chairs would become democratic and the dems would control the legislative agenda
( energy bills , california bailout , possible investigation of who influenced the cheney plan etc . ) . in a profound ideological shift , sen . murkowski ( r - ak ) would be replaced by sen . bingaman ( d - nm ) as chair of the senate energy committee . when bingaman takes over the senate energy committee , expect pipeline safety issues to again come to the fore . bingaman is a strong proponent of tough pipeline safety regulation ( particularly in the wake of the carlsbad explosion last year ) and will likely insist on strict safety requirements in the cheney energy bill .
? the recommendations for loosening regulations for oil / gas drilling , coal and power as well as incentives for new generation contained in the cheney bill are likely to be heavily revised in favor of more conservation - oriented measures .
? the tax bill will likely be downsized , particularly if jeffords makes his switch immediately . the timing is important because the senate - house conference on the bill must be appointed immediately .
? all presidential appointments would be controlled by the dems . this is significant because of the large number of sub - cabinet level appointments that need to be approved .
at the same time , republicans are trying to convince sen . zell miller ( d - ga ) , who already votes republican , to switch to the republican party . if this happens , it will cancel out the expected jeffords move . initial reports are that miller will not switch .
one other caveat - - jeffords has pondered a switch in the past and then flaked out . but if jeffords goes through with it and miller stays put , the balance of power in washington will be tipped in favor of the democrats .