Omnibus

With the most contentious issue deep-sixed, House-Senate negotiators were expected to pass a conference report on the omnibus energy bill late Monday, making it possible for both houses of Congress to vote on legislation this week that would overhaul national energy policy for the first time in more than a decade and send it to President Bush before leaving for their August recess.

The House last Thursday defeated a Democratic non-binding motion that would have instructed House conferees on the omnibus energy bill to strike provisions offering producers of the gasoline additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), protection from liability lawsuits stemming from contamination of groundwater sites.

The House on Thursday narrowly defeated a Democratic non-binding motion that would have instructed House conferees on the omnibus energy bill to strike provisions offering producers of the gasoline additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), protection from liability lawsuits stemming from contamination of groundwater sites.

The House appointed 34 Republican and 18 Democratic conferees to the omnibus energy bill (HR 6), just hours before the first conference committee on the measure got under way on Thursday.

The House is expected to appoint conferees for the upcoming House-Senate conference on the omnibus energy after it returns from its recess on Monday (July 11), according to a Capitol Hill spokesman.

Senate leaders on Friday named 14 conferees to the upcoming House-Senate conference on the omnibus energy bill (HR 6). The House has yet to appoint conferees.

The Senate last week wrapped up two weeks of debate on the omnibus energy bill and is scheduled to vote on the bipartisan package Tuesday morning, setting the stage for Congress to pass a national energy policy for the first time in more than a decade, assuming all goes well this summer in the House-Senate conference on the measure.

Following an extended debate and back-room deals, the Senate on Thursday approved a bipartisan amendment as part of the omnibus energy bill to provide $1 billion in coastal impact assistance funds over four years to six coastal states with oil and natural gas production on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

Hidden among the hundreds of provisions in the much-needed omnibus energy bill making its way through the Congress is one that would seriously weaken the competitive natural gas market, increasing volatility and undermining three years of work by all concerned on restructuring and rebuilding that market.