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America needs a climate plan compromise
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President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda is making its way through Congress via a budget reconciliation bill — a once-in-a-generation opportunity for America to reassert its leadership in combating the climate crisis. But a major part of the effort is jeopardized by disagreements over the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), which would subsidize electric utilities that increase the share of clean energy they produce while penalizing those that do not. This provision could be responsible for up to one-third of the emissions reductions in Biden’s climate agenda, so lawmakers must either find a way to compromise on the CEPP or replace it with a policy that can achieve similar emissions reductions.
Negotiators are reportedly considering dropping the CEPP over concerns from Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-W. Va.), who not only holds the crucial 50th vote Democrats need to pass the bill through the Senate but is also chairman of the Senate Energy Committee that has jurisdiction over the CEPP provisions. Manchin says he is concerned that the program would only subsidize transitions that are already taking place rather than encouraging the adoption of new renewable energy sources. He’s also concerned that the program would hurt states like West Virginia that are heavily dependent on natural gas and coal by requiring them to adopt expensive technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS) without offsetting the costs. And he has noted the opposition of some major electric utilities over cost and reliability worries, although the industry is somewhat divided on the bill.
Whether climate hawks agree with these concerns or not, the reality is that any climate policy must address them to become law. Because of the work that has already gone into developing the policy, and Manchin’s chairmanship of the relevant committee, we believe the clearest path forward is for Manchin and fellow negotiators to modify the CEPP so that it addresses his concerns while meeting the science-based targets necessary to retain the support of other Democrats.
by Paul Bledsoe, PPI Strategic Adviser,
and Ben Ritz, Director of PPI's Center for Funding America's Future
for The Hill
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Hot Off the Press
The Economist: One policy accounts for a lot of the decarbonisation in Joe Biden’s climate plans | 10.12.21
"Happily even reconciliation-lite could bring meaningful progress if key bits of the current proposals survive the negotiations. Paul Bledsoe of the Progressive Policy Institute, a think-tank, is confident a deal 'likely a bit under $2trn' will happen this month."
E&E News: Energy crisis tests Biden’s clean electricity agenda | 10.14.21
“The administration has got to be careful that consumer energy prices don’t get too high as a political matter, of course, that’s true of all administrations,” said Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser with the Progressive Policy Institute.
InsideHealthPolicy: Medicare Dental Benefits On Precarious Path In Reconciliation | 10.14.21
The Progressive Policy Institute, a moderate Democratic think tank, released a paper last week (Oct. 5) that outlined a roughly $2 trillion reconciliation package that includes making some of the American Rescue Plan’s Affordable Care Act exchange subsidies permanent and offering coverage to Americans who fall into the so-called Medicaid coverage gap.
The New Republic: The Democrats’ Dilemma: Build Back Faster or Build Back Longer? | 10.14.21
Ben Ritz, the director of the Center for Funding America’s Future at the Progressive Policy Institute, argues that Republicans could easily allow these programs to wither on the vine. He compared the current situation to the fight over the Affordable Care Act; Republicans were unsuccessful in repealing the bill in 2017, in part because they had no alternative. But if the ACA had a sunset date of 2017, he said, it’s easy to imagine Republicans just allowing it to end.
E&E News: Democrats’ landmark climate proposal teeters | 10.18.21
“This shouldn’t be viewed as unexpected,” said Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser with the Progressive Policy Institute. “We knew that the CEPP was going to be a hard sell in the Senate for a variety of reasons.”
MarketWatch: Here’s what could go in a Democratic social-spending bill costing $1.5 trillion — Manchin’s limit | 10.15.21
Another think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute, also has put out a proposal for a social-spending package that might satisfy the Democratic Party’s moderates and liberals.
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Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg
Arielle Kane: Medicare Can Cover Dental Care Inexpensively
As the cost of President Joe Biden’s spending package shrinks from $3.5 trillion closer to $2 trillion, Senator Bernie Sanders’s proposal to add dental, vision and hearing coverage to Medicare has emerged as a sticking point in negotiations. Opposing Sanders are Democrats such as Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina who would like to prioritize spending to benefit low-income people — including by providing health insurance for the poor in states that have refused to expand Medicaid.
There is a way to compromise — to add new benefits to Medicare without spending so much that there’s no room in the budget for helping the Medicaid-deprived.
Rather than simply offer dental, vision and hearing benefits to all Medicare beneficiaries, create an optional, buy-in policy. This would enable seniors to take advantage of the federal government’s purchasing power but still limit the cost to taxpayers. It would keep Medicare solvent longer. And it would provide standardized plans for beneficiaries — rather than the patchwork of coverage now available to those who sign up for Medicare Advantage or supplemental Medicare plans.
by Arielle Kane, PPI Director of Health Care
for Bloomberg
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This week, Chief Economic Strategist at PPI, Michael Mandel, and Senior Fellow at AEI, Shane Tews, sit down to discuss the current antitrust legislation in Congress and how it will affect everyday consumers. What happens to Amazon Basics? And what about Kirkland products? Is breaking up big tech really what consumers are concerned about?
Today's episode is moderated by Jeremiah Johnson, Director of the Center for New Liberalism.
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ICYMI – Why does the policy world underrepresent women's voices, and what can we do about it? Jasmine Stoughton of the Mosaic Economic Project joins the show to talk about the Mosaic Project's work to amplify the voices of women experts in policy areas like technology, economics and more.
We discuss the talent pipeline for women with expertise, how to break up the 'Old Boys Club' in Washington, D.C., and why representation matters.
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Don't Miss These PPI Events
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COMING UP: Michael Mandel Joins IBM Policy Lab Live
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Coming up soon, PPI Chief Economist Michael Mandel joins IBM's Policy Lab Live to discuss on how digital technologies and cross-border data flows support growth and resilience for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Register for the roundtable here!
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Don't Miss These PPI Reports
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NEW: The Great Transatlantic Data Disruption
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New from PPI and the International Center for Law and Economics:
"A large part of the value of data is its ability to flow throughout the global connected economy in real time... those data flows increasingly run into barriers of various sorts when they seek to cross national borders."
Read the full report here.
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