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By LISA LERER | 5/21/09 4:26 AM EDT
Politico
House Democrats backing controversial climate change legislation have been getting a hidden helping hand this week from Al Gore.
Over the past few days, the former vice president and environmental activist has mobilized his green grass roots, marshaled his well-endowed lobbying organization and even personally called Democratic committee members in an effort to push the bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee and through Congress.
“I have enormous respect for Al Gore. When it comes to climate change, he’s the guru,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).
Engel said Gore called him on Saturday to try to persuade him to vote for the legislation. The two, who had never spoken privately before, had a “nice, lengthy conversation,” said the congressman.
Gore said he supported the legislation “despite the compromises that had to be made” because it was moving the country toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Some environmental groups have criticized the bill as overly generous to polluting industries at the expense of tougher caps on emissions — a view shared by a handful of progressive House members. But with both a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar to show for his work on climate change, Gore holds particular sway with those members, and his calls could persuade some wavering progressives to back the bill.
Engel told Gore that he planned to oppose the bill because he felt “uncomfortable” with some of the concessions energy committee Chairman Henry Waxman made to utilities, coal plants and manufacturing companies. He’d also like the legislation to include more funding for flex-fuel vehicles, which he’s pushed for several years.
“Gore said he wasn’t all that familiar with the nuances of flex-fuel cars but he hoped I could work it out so I could support the bill,” the congressman said. “It’s helpful to hear him, because he’s been such a leader in this regard, so I appreciate the call.”
But, he noted, “I’m not a yes on this bill.” For the rest of the story click here.
Gore’s spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, said she would not comment on his private communications.
The former vice president may have his work cut out for him: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel said he intends to mark up the climate change bill after it passes out of Waxman’s committee. That means there will be a need to persuade another group of skeptical — and possibly politically vulnerable — Democrats to back the legislation.
“I don’t want to personalize any bills. I just want to deal with what the committee deals with,” Rangel said Wednesday. “We will deal with anything we have jurisdiction over.”
Asked about Rangel’s comments, Waxman said he’ll meet with the Ways and Means chairman, and any other chairmen with jurisdiction, after the Memorial Day recess to figure out how to proceed.
“I’m not worried about it,” Waxman said.
Gore is no stranger to Hill politics.
As a congressman in the 1980s, he used his seat on the committee to debate ways to curb pollution using the Clean Air Act. He still has good relationships with several of the committee’s most senior members, including former Chairman John Dingell and Waxman, the current chairman.
Gore has spoken with Waxman and progressive Washington Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee, a supporter of the bill, and he testified last month before the committee.
Off the Hill, Gore’s network of environmental organizations is running large-scale grass-roots campaigns advocating for the legislation, complete with ads, e-mail solicitations and training sessions for “citizen activists.” The effort is largely targeted at Midwestern and Southern lawmakers who worry that the new regulations will raise costs for strapped consumers and fossil-fuel-intensive industries, including steel, auto and coal.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22796.html#ixzz0GM4uruWO&BAnd here is the rest of it.
