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Could cap-and-trade be pushed back to 2011?
The chairman of the National Farmers Union’s legislative committee says it’s possible cap-and-trade legislation in Congress could be pushed back to 2011.
John Hansen, who is also president of Nebraska Farmers Union, doesn’t think the lack of a binding agreement among nations at the international climate change conference will have much impact on the legislation. He says bigger factors will be the bitter fight over health care reform and the fact that 2010 is an election year.
“Anytime that you inject electoral politics into Congress, on top of already long-standing, deeply-felt issues like health care reform,” Hansen says, “it then makes the whole thing even more difficult.”
Regarding health care reform, Hansen says Farmers Union still supports the Senate health care bill, but it falls short of what they wanted. “We’re going to hold our nose and support this package,” he says, “because what we have now is doing a lot of damage.”
Hansen looks at it as a first step in a long process.
“This is not going to be a one-shot fix,” he says. “It’s much too complicated, way too many moving parts—but at some point you’ve got to get started.”
Hansen says while it’s not exactly what they wanted, the bill does contain provisions that will be helpful to rural health care users.
AUDIO: John Hansen
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