The House will reconvene at 2 PM today. Bills requiring recorded votes will not occur until 6:30 PM EST.
This week the House of Representatives will consider the Energy and Commerce Committee's comprehensive energy bill, H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act, and two resolutions disapproving of the Environmental Protection Agency's rules for new and existing fossil-fuel fired power plants. As the House works on legislation that capitalizes on America's energy abundance and protects ratepayers and grid reliability around the country, President Obama is in Paris touting an alternative energy vision that says no to American energy.
Bills, other than administrative land use bills and naming bills which may be considered are:
S. 611 — "To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize technical assistance to small public water systems, and for other purposes."
H.R. 3490 — "To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the National Computer Forensics Institute, and for other purposes."
H.R. 3279 — "To amend titles 5 and 28, United States Code, to require annual reports to Congress on, and the maintenance of databases on, awards of fees and other expenses to prevailing parties in certain administrative proceedings and court cases to which the United States is a party, and for other purposes."
H.R. 1755 — "To amend title 36, United States Code, to make certain improvements in the congressional charter of the Disabled American Veterans."
H.R. 1541 — "To amend title 54, United States Code, to make Hispanic-serving institutions eligible for technical and financial assistance for the establishment of preservation training and degree programs."
The Senate will reconvene at 3 PM today. At 5:30, the Senate will vote on confirmation of the nomination of Gayle Smith to be Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. (USAID).
Later this week, the Senate is expected to take up a bill repealing Obamacare.
McConnell writes, "It would obviously be irresponsible for an outgoing president to purport to sign the American people up to international commitments based on a domestic energy plan that is likely illegal, that half the states have sued to halt, that Congress has voted to reject and that his successor could do away with in a few months' time.
"But that's just what President Obama is proposing to do at a U.N. climate conference in Paris starting Monday. The president's international negotiating partners at that conference should proceed with caution before entering into an unattainable deal with this administration, because commitments the president makes there would rest on a house of cards of his own making."
He explains, "What his power plan will do is unfairly punish Americans who can least afford it. It could result in the elimination of as many as a quarter of a million U.S. jobs. It could raise energy costs in more than 40 states, with double-digit increases in states ..."
"Predictably, the president's attack on the middle class — one that won't even meaningfully affect global carbon emissions — has received loud applause from wealthy left-wingers who just want to pat themselves on the back for 'doing something.' Lost jobs or higher energy bills may be a mere trifle for some on the left, but it's a different story for a senior citizen on a fixed income or for a working mom who struggles paycheck to paycheck.
"Few expect this anti-middle class power plan to last much beyond the months remaining in Obama's term though. The courts appear likely to strike it down, the next president could tear it up, more than half of the 50 states have filed suit against it, and — critically — a bipartisan majority in both chambers of Congress just approved legislation to expressly reject it."
Leader McConnell notes, "It's unclear what the president hopes to achieve at this U.N. conference, given that Secretary of State John F. Kerry recently said that there are 'not going to be legally binding reduction targets' and that large countries including Japan have echoed the sentiment."
Politico writes, "Obama has steadily raised the stakes for a climate deal throughout his second term, amping up his talk about the dire threat of global warming and the need to unite the world toward solving it. He's the one who drew a direct connection to Paris when he rejected the Keystone XL pipeline three weeks ago, and when he rolled out a series of contentious climate regulations in the past two years. He's the one who welcomed Pope Francis to Washington to try turning climate action into an international moral imperative.
"But the two-week summit is unlikely to give Obama the world-saving, wall-of-the-presidential-library-defining achievement that he clearly wants. Even the best-case scenario won't make sense to most people — there's no easy headline or heroic narrative to be had in a patchwork of nonbinding pledges by 200 nations that may or may not eventually limit the rise in global temperatures to around 2 degrees Celsius. . . .
"Aides are already dialing down expectations. . . . The Obama administration and top United Nations officials have known for months, even years, that the end-product of the Paris negotiations wouldn't be ambitious enough on its own to tackle climate change, and they've been working to set realistic expectations about what the talks will accomplish."
The Washington Post adds, "Whatever agreement emerges from Paris, [President Obama] has no intention of submitting it to the Senate for ratification as a treaty. The administration argues that any agreement does not bind the United States to a course of action Moreover, it says the Clean Air Act and the United Nations Framework on Climate Change signed by former President George H.W. Bush already give Obama the authority he needs to carry out climate commitments.
"There are disadvantages to that approach: a new president could back away from the Obama climate plan. A treaty would bind all future presidents to comply with it. For now, however, even without formally signing an agreement, the Obama administration is expected to abide by its own policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. . . .
"If an agreement were to end up in the GOP-controlled Senate, rejection would be its most likely fate. That would be a setback for Obama and for international momentum on the climate issue, but it would be consistent for Republicans who have repeatedly skewered the president for what they view as his overreaching use of executive power."
"[T]his much is clear," Leader McConnell says. "We know that the president is concerned with his legacy, and we know that he often prioritizes symbolism over substance. If Obama thinks it's okay to push a power plan that threatens working families for the benefit of, at best, a carbon rounding error, then he should say so.
"But Congress and more than half of the states have already made clear that he won't be speaking for us. The courts will also continue working to determine if this power plan is legal."
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