20-April-2012
Redistricting for this election cycle has created more solidly red or blue states, which is fueling the partisan battle over energy policy, Andrew Wheeler of FaegreBD Consulting told the
National Journal.
"People are moving to the right and the left because you have a lot of states where election battles are in the primaries instead of the general election," said Wheeler, who spent 14 years on Capitol Hill, including six as Republican staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
On April 17, 2012, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee passed two bills to counter what Republicans say is an overzealous Obama administration environmental agenda driving up gasoline prices, the National Journal reported.
The bills are likely to follow the same cycle as many previous Republican-backed energy and environment bills, passing the House and dying in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Election-year politics and an aggressive executive branch have promoted the entrenchment that has stymied Washington on energy and environmental policy, current and former lawmakers and aides told the National Journal.
The full article is available to subscribers only.