"The Hard Part: Committee Priorities For Reconciliation"

"When the Senate backed a massive budget package this week, it set off a monthlong sprint by committees to divide up $3.5 trillion among a host of domestic programs with a major focus on climate change.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said yesterday he’s already met with committee chairs and given them a Sept. 15 deadline for producing their share of the final legislation, which will be merged into a single reconciliation package in the Senate this fall without the threat of a filibuster (see related story). The budget plan gave each committee a spending or savings goal and listed some priorities they should pursue.

“Every committee chair is going to be meeting at least on a weekly basis, maybe more often with their members," Schumer told reporters yesterday. "And we will do weekly Zooms with them as well. We’re going to be working very hard in the next few weeks."

The legislation, the centerpiece of President Biden’s domestic agenda, promises historic efforts to curb climate change — from setting federal clean electricity standards to making unprecedented investments in environmental justice."

George Cahlink reports for E&E News August 12, 2021.

Source: E&E News, 08/13/2021