June 28, 2007 -- House Democratic leaders unveiled a package of wide-ranging energy bills on June 28 that they said would significantly reduce US dependence on foreign oil.
But the House's initiative contains no provisions to address several hot-button issues that the Senate grappled with in a bill it passed last week, such as raising fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to downplay the lack of a fuel-economy provision in the package, saying it would be included in another round of energy legislation that House Democrats will push in September.
"It is not the end of the debate" on fuel-economy standards, Pelosi told reporters at a news conference in the Capitol. "That debate will continue into the fall."
A fuel-economy provision was included in a draft bill that the House Energy and Commerce Committee crafted earlier this year. But the Chairman John Dingell of Michigan pulled it because not all panel members thought it was stringent enough to force changes on struggling US automakers, who have lost billions of dollars in recent years due to lagging sales of gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The yanking of the fuel-economy provision reflected the considerable policy differences that exist between Dingell, who has strong ties to Detroit-based automakers, and other senior Democrats who say the industry must consent to stronger changes if it is to survive. Dingell was one of 11 Democratic committee chairmen who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Pelosi on June 28 to announce the House's energy package.
But Dingell showed no sign of disagreement with Pelosi, as he reiterated his previously announced promise to revisit the fuel-economy issue in the fall.
Pelosi, similarly, sought to avoid any appearance of conflict with Dingell. The speaker acknowledged that she supported the provision in the Senate-passed bill that would raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, which is roughly a 10 mpg increase over current levels.
But Pelosi would not answer reporters' repeated questions about whether she would allow Democrats to propose CAFE-related amendments to the bill. Pelosi would only say that "it will be an open debate" when the energy package comes to the floor. That will occur sometime in late July, she said.
The House energy package is cobbled together from a host of bills passed by 11 different committees. Among other things, it would provide funding for ethanol and other biofuels, and set tough new energy efficiency standards for home appliances.
The bulk of the funding for the initiative would be garnered by stripping more than $16 billion in tax breaks from large oil companies.
Next page: Senate passes bill requiring CAFE, biofuel gains
This article was originally published in Platts 
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