Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) is “bullish” on the lame-duck passage of S. 5653, the industrial-fast-tracking legislation dubbed the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA).
In an interview with the Washington Sun’s Igor Bobic, Schatz dismissed the argument that Democrats could negotiate a better bill with more Democrats in Congress after January 3rd. He said proponents of waiting such as Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) would have to “prove” that a better deal on permit reform will be possible after the lame-duck session. This is an impossible condition.
Schatz dismissed most critics of the data-center-accelerating legislation as “degrowthers” who “hate development of all kinds,” but conceded that “people who care about local ecosystems” and the “tribal side” have legitimate concerns.
He praised his own record of legislative compromise on climate policy, calling the 2015 “[temporary] extension of the investment tax credit and the production tax credit with the oil export ban being lifted” one of his “proudest moments,” further claiming that and “the IRA with the Mountain Valley Pipeline in it” were both “net-net good for climate.” The investment tax credit and the production tax credit for renewable energy are ending, while oil exports very rapidly outstripped the modeling of energy analysts, who incorrectly claimed the compromise would be net-net good for climate. Climate pollution in the United States and the world continues to rise.
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