Obama’s Mentor Laurence Tribe Criticizes Obama Administration Pushing Climate Change Via EPA On States As Unconstitutional

Editorial Cartoon by William Warren

Today in Washington, D.C. - April 17, 2015
The House today convened proforma for 3 minutes. THe House will at 2 PM on Monday, April 20, 2015.
As previously reported by the ARRA News Service, yesterday the House passed two bills ,
H.R. 1105 (240 - 179) — "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, and for other purposes."
H.R. 622 (272 - 152) — "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the deduction of State and local general sales taxes."

The Senate is not in session today and will reconvene at 2 PM on Monday, April 20, 2015, to resume consideration of S. 178, the bipartisan Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. At 5:30, the Senate will vote on the nomination of George Hanks, Jr, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 95-2 to confirm Russell Deyo to be Under Secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security.

Yesterday, a National Journal report, noted that “Laurence Tribe—an iconic legal scholar and longtime mentor to President Obama—offered up blistering criticism on Thursday of the administration's efforts to tackle climate change.

“Regulations crafted by the Environmental Protection Agency to limit carbon pollution from power plants violate the Constitution and overstep executive authority, Tribe argued in the opening act of a major legal challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

“Obama's plan would ‘upturn the entire constitutional system’ and force states to become ‘puppets of a federal ventriloquist’ that would be ‘brought into the federal army,’ Tribe told the three-judge panel.

“Arguing on behalf of industry and state opponents of the rule, Tribe denounced the rule as a massive overreach, saying, ‘It is clear that they are trying to make law not execute law.’ The administration was clearly ‘coloring outside the lines,’ he added.”

National Journal notes, “Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have reveled in Tribe's seeming defection, an outcome they say stands as proof of the problems with Obama's climate agenda. McConnell has relied on legal arguments spelled out by Tribe as he attempts to throw a wrench in Obama's plans by convincing governors across the United States not to comply with the regulations.

“At issue in the case heard Thursday is whether EPA was justified in regulating carbon pollution from power plants under the Clean Air Act when the agency has already regulated mercury and other toxic air pollution. Opponents of the rule say it should be challenged even before a final version emerges, because it has already begun to inflict economic harm on the energy industry.”

While those arguments were occurring, the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM) wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to thank him for the letter he sent to all 50 governors calling on them to reject the EPA’s proposed regulation that requires states to dramatically restructure their electricity systems based on how the agency thinks electricity should be produced and used in each state. The EPA’s demands, McConnell noted in his letter, are “far beyond its legal authority.”

In the letter to Senator McConnell, KAM President & CEO Charles Gregory Higdon wrote: “We agree that Kentucky has every right to question, whether restructuring our state’s energy portfolio via submitting a State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the CPP at this time is in the best interest of the Commonwealth.” Higdon also wrote that “KAM agrees with you that EPA lacks the statutory authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired electric generators … KAM supports an ‘all of the above’ approach to the production of cost-effective and reliable energy for our members… We agree that this legally questionable plan is not worth jeopardizing the tens of thousands of jobs in the Commonwealth that rely on manufacturing.”

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