A new article describes U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., as an attentive listener, straight shooter and gentleman who also has “a bit of a stubborn streak.”
Sounds about right to me.
The article is published in The National Journal Magazine, and takes a look at energy reform legislation being developed in the Senate by profiling the leaders of two committees working on the effort. They are Bingaman, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee.
The link to the magazine’s June cover story is here, but you can only read it if you have a subscription. An accompanying interview with Bingaman is here, but also requires a subscription. Sorry.
Here’s an interesting portion about Bingaman from the article:
“Asked to react to his colleagues’ description of him as an attentive listener, Bingaman, 65, grinned. ‘Well, there are a lot of folks around here who have things they want to say, and they do appreciate people listening and letting them say those things, which I’m glad to do!’ (Sen. Debbie) Stabenow (D-Mich.) said she can tell when the Harvard-and-Stanford-trained lawyer disagrees with her, because he’ll quietly ask, ‘Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that?’
“Bingaman knows how to broker deals to move measures in his committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said. She thinks of Bingaman, now in his fifth term, as a ‘straight shooter’ and a ‘gentleman.’ He does have the earnest air of a preacher about him. He speaks softly and looks downward. He gently clasps his hands in front of him, or touches the tips of his fingers together when he’s concentrating. His smile is boyish and fleeting.
“Still, some who have worked with him say that Bingaman has a bit of a stubborn streak. One former Senate aide recalled how during a 2002 conference committee, then-House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., was seeking to make a point and break an impasse. He handed Bingaman some legislative language that the senator scanned and pronounced unacceptable. ‘No, I’m sorry that won’t work,’ Bingaman told Tauzin. ‘But, sir,’ the House chairman replied, ‘that’s your language.’
And this:
“Many of the chairman’s colleagues who have worked with him for years say that Bingaman is not a senator who chitchats or vents, which leaves them knowing little beyond their shared Senate business. ‘I’m not purposely that way,’ he shrugged. ‘It just seems like that’s what people are paying me to do — not to kibitz about other stuff.’”
The energy legislation
Anyway, on to the energy reform legislation on which Bingaman and Boxer are working. Bingaman told me in April that he’s crafting a package that will aim to improve energy efficiency, expand the deployment of renewable energy around the nation and provide more financial support for increased capacity.
That’s the easier stuff, Bingaman said. The real energy debate is about creating a cap-and-trade program that would set an annual target on the amount of carbon that can be released into the atmosphere and would allow firms to buy, sell and trade carbon credits. Such a program, which Bingaman strongly supports, would also provide incentives to promote a gradual transition to new, lower-carbon technologies.
That debate, and how it could affect Bingaman’s package, is captured in the National Journal article:
“The dilemma for (Senate Majority Leader Harry) Reid (D-Nev.) is whether delinking an energy package from a climate-change measure would send cap-and-trade drifting into the future among reluctant, wary senators. The dilemma for Bingaman is whether Reid’s notion of trying to leverage two complex packages in search of 60 votes might actually sink his panel’s bipartisan achievements on a host of energy-saving initiatives that could move ahead this year.
“Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a member of Bingaman’s committee who is trying to negotiate some nuclear energy and domestic-production compromises with the Democrats, says he wants to vote for a major energy bill this year but sees cap-and-trade as a deal-killer in the Senate. ‘God, it’s just a public bribery bill, isn’t it?’ Corker said in an interview.”
A spokeswoman for Bingaman said in an e-mail that Bingaman’s energy bill should be finalized by the energy committee on Thursday. It’s up to Reid to decide when to take it and other energy legislation before the full Senate.