Reid Tying Cap & Trade to Offshore Drilling Reforms

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid lumping the cap and trade legislation to a bill reforming offshore drilling regulation. Naturally, fellow Democrats think it is a horrible idea.

One leading Democrat who’s wary of Reid’s strategy is the leader of the party’s 2010 Senate campaign committee, Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

“I think we should do them separately,” he said. “The oil regulation bill is moving fast and has a lot of support.”

Menendez is wrong. Linking cap and trade to the popular offshore drilling reform bill is good policy and politics. The cap and trade bill was dead. Reid now has a chance to kick start the bill. The cap and trade legislation isn't perfect but it is a good start. If you don't think we shouldn't worry about greenhouse emissions; Miami-Dade County will one day be underwater if we stay at our current rate of emissions.

The politics makes perfect sense. Republican that are against cap and trade would vote against the bill at their own political peril. Democrats will tell voters that the Republicans that voted against the bill want to keep the status quo that produced the Deep Horizon spill. It is a win for Democrats no matter how Republicans vote.

Offshore drilling was always linked to cap and trade. Earlier this year, Bill Nelson pulled support for an earlier cap and trade bill because it would allow offshore drilling. After the start of the BP spill, Lindsay Graham was political tone deaf enough to declare he wouldn't support the bill because there wasn't enough offshore drilling. Apparently, the pro-oil White House wasn't gung ho enough for Graham.