Ginsburg replacement fight complicates Senate bill’s path

By Catherine Morehouse, Utility Dive

The White House on Monday said the president’s advisors would recommend he veto a comprehensive House clean energy bill, as progress on the Senate’s Energy Innovation Act may continue to stall following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Members of Congress were hoping to squeeze out their respective chambers’ energy innovation bills by the end of the year, but between the White House’s intent to veto and an expected fierce battle over the now-vacant Supreme Court seat following the death of Ginsburg on Friday, a path forward is less certain.

“With the news of Justice Ginsburg’s passing, I cannot even venture a guess of how the next few weeks and months may play out,” said Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., on Monday during a National Clean Energy Week symposium.

Policy observers say there was likely already too little time left in the year to see the Senate’s Energy Innovation Act hit the floor again, after stalling in March. Meanwhile, the House’s legislative package was scheduled for a vote this week, but the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) indicated the president’s advisors would recommend he veto the legislation if it made it to his desk, citing the bill’s “top-down approach that would undermine the Administration’s deregulatory agenda.

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