INSIDE WASHINGTON

Congressional Insiders Poll

by Richard E. Cohen and Peter Bell

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009


Click here to see how prominent bloggers responded to these questions.

Q: Could you see yourself supporting a cap-and-trade bill if it included significant incentives for nuclear energy?

Democrats (37 votes)

Yes     81%
No      16%
Depends  3%

Yes

"Nuclear power must be part of the mix for future energy sources. Incentives such as safety training for nuclear workers and additional research on waste disposal are needed. Most incentives should be targeted at renewables because they are newer and have the greatest potential for development."

"It's the cleanest form of energy, emits no greenhouse gases, and is critical to coal-reliant states."

"Climate change is a grave threat facing our world, and we need to keep all options on the table to drastically reduce our greenhouse-gas pollution."

"This would provide for generations of clean energy and promote thousands of construction jobs."

"If combined with nonproliferation designs and techniques."

"Nuclear energy is emissions-free and definitely a piece of the puzzle, but expanded support for nuclear energy must come with expanded work on safe storage of nuclear waste."

"Especially if the incentives consisted of research into the disposal of waste."

"But not at the expense of higher priorities."

"I don't think we need incentives, just a market."

"Nuclear must be on the table but it is not going to be a panacea."

"The American people want an 'all-of-the-above' energy policy that includes investments in all American-produced nonfossil fuels. Republicans say they favor all of the above, but really they're the 'drill, baby, drill' party. Democrats should own the all-of-the-above mantle."

"Cannot get to energy independence without it."

No

"Nuclear is a nonstarter as long as it remains nonrenewable: The only thing 'renewable' about nuclear is its ability to reignite security risks domestically and internationally, and refill environmentally unsound waste pits."

"I have difficulty considering nuclear energy when we haven't figured out what to do with the waste; until we do, it's just more of a problem."

"Why would we want to trade carbon emissions for nuclear waste?"

Q: Could you see yourself supporting a cap-and-trade bill if it included significant incentives for nuclear energy?

Republicans (37 votes)

Yes      3%
No      95%
Depends  3%

No

"Democrats will be forced to do that anyway. Cap-and-trade is a regressive, job-killing tax that will undermine the economy while making Wall Street traders rich. It poses a greater danger to the Democratic majority than health care because it has no upside for voters."

"Although nuclear energy is a step in the right direction for our nation's energy development, the costs and damage to our economy resulting from cap-and-trade is just too great to overlook."

"Incentives for non-carbon-emitting nuclear power should not require a cap-and-trade national energy tax. The House is passing a $2.25 billion program for solar power this week separate from cap-and-trade--why should there be a different standard for proposals to encourage nuclear?"

"Losing over a million jobs to satisfy our European friends and Al Gore is a bad deal for America."

"The benefits of nuclear are conceptual--the job losses in traditional energy and manufacturing are real."

"Skyrocketing electric rates and gas costs will destroy jobs."

"Nuclear or not, it doesn't change the fact that this is a tax increase hitting people at the wrong time."

"There is no sweetener big enough to make an energy tax palatable."

"You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig."

"You can have as many incentives as you want but if the bottom line continues to be higher consumer prices I will still vote no."

"Sounds like radioactive prostitution."

"House-passed bill is a jobs killer. They need to include nuclear regardless and make other major revisions as well; then they'd have a chance at getting some Rs."

"It is the least they can do. Unfortunately, it is so far out into the future that it won't help transition. If combined with clean coal and gas/oil gradual reductions and then conversion, [I am] more likely to support. I favor moving to more wind and solar; it just needs to be realistic for manufacturing areas in less sunny, less windy areas."

"Too little, too late--had a chance for a bipartisan bill but the gag on [House] floor amendments set the stage. What will [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi do in the future without the 78-vote majority?!!"

Q: Are your party's leaders doing enough to police congressional ethics enforcement in your own party?

Democrats (37 votes)

Yes        62%
No         30%
Don't know  8%

Yes

"Democratic leaders have respected the ethics process as agreed to by all parties--ensuring a thorough investigation and keeping it from being abused for partisan witch hunts."

"Let's not forget: It wasn't until the Democrats took over the majority that Congress adopted strengthened rules of ethical oversight."

"The Ethics Committee has been revitalized and augmented by the new [Office of Congressional Ethics]."

"We could always be doing more and always should be doing more, but the new congressional ethics office is at work and [is] pursuing investigations. When Democrats took over the House, the process was broken and the Ethics Committee was stalemated. Now investigations are being undertaken and the public knows they are taking place. Both parties need to figure out how to handle the status of members when they are under investigation."

"Although investigations would benefit from further transparency."

No

"The ethics process is not moving fast enough in either party."

"Leaders should not attempt to influence the timing or outcome of an ethics investigation. However, they should ask any subject of an investigation to step down from positions of leadership during the review of serious charges."

"It's Murtha/Rangel, stupid!"

Don't know

"It's all confidential--and it should be."

"They'll be walking a difficult fine line on Rangel and Murtha."

Q: Are your party's leaders doing enough to police congressional ethics enforcement in your own party?

Republicans (36 votes)

Yes 81%
No  19%

Yes

"Republican leaders have held their members accountable, while Pelosi continues to protect Rangel and Murtha."

"[Minority Leader] John Boehner has announced a zero tolerance policy."

"Republicans learned a lot from recent elections. Standards are higher, transparency is better, and conference- and leadership-imposed sanctions are stiffer and more readily applied. However, it will be a long time before the public lets the GOP off probation."

"Slow in the past."

"We've had more than our share of issues, but Boehner has shown he's willing to ask members to step aside when it becomes necessary. Dems can't say the same."

"Boehner has actually been pretty clear on the low tolerance for misbehavior."

"But the Democratic Party is not."

"Especially when compared to the Democrats. Whatever happened to draining the swamp and removing ethical clouds over members?"

"Our leadership has been more effective, in terms of enforcement, than the bipartisan House and Senate Ethics committees. They have dragged their feet on everything from Rangel to Ensign."

"All of the Republican ethical issues resulted in them losing power--lesson learned."

No

"They need to confront colleagues who haven't yet recognized the public peril of requesting earmarks for major contributors."

National Journal Insiders

Democratic Congressional Insiders Sens. Sherrod Brown, Ben Cardin, Thomas Carper, Christopher Dodd, Frank Lautenberg, Barbara Mikulski, Mark Pryor, Jon Tester, Tom Udall, Mark Warner; Reps. Jason Altmire, Robert Andrews, Michael Arcuri, Tammy Baldwin, Melissa Bean, Xavier Becerra, Howard Berman, Marion Berry, Rick Boucher, Lois Capps, Michael Capuano, Dennis Cardoza, Chris Carney, James Clyburn, Gerry Connolly , Jim Cooper, Joseph Crowley, Elijah Cummings, Artur Davis, Diana DeGette, Rosa DeLauro, Eliot Engel, Anna Eshoo, Sam Farr, Chaka Fattah, Bob Filner, Phil Hare, Alcee Hastings, Rush Holt, Mike Honda, Steve Israel, Frank Kratovil, Jim Langevin, John Lewis, Zoe Lofgren, Nita Lowey, Carolyn Maloney, Ed Markey, Jim McDermott, Jim McGovern, Kendrick Meek, Jim Moran, David Price, Silvestre Reyes, Linda Sanchez, Jan Schakowsky, Mark Schauer, Jose Serrano, Adam Smith, John Spratt, Pete Stark, John Tanner, Ellen Tauscher, Bennie Thompson, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Henry Waxman, and Peter Welch.

GOP Congressional Insiders Sens. Lamar Alexander, Jim Bunning, John Cornyn, Jim DeMint, John Ensign, Lindsey Graham, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Johnny Isakson, George LeMieux, Richard Lugar, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Sessions, Olympia Snowe, John Thune, David Vitter; Reps. Michele Bachmann, Brian Bilbray, Marsha Blackburn, Roy Blunt, John Boehner, Charles Boustany, Kevin Brady, John Campbell, Eric Cantor, John Carter, Michael Castle, Tom Cole, Mike Conaway, David Dreier, Jeff Flake, Scott Garrett, Bob Goodlatte, Kay Granger, Doc Hastings, Pete Hoekstra, Bob Inglis, Darrell Issa, Peter King, Jack Kingston, Mark Kirk, John Kline, Christopher Lee, Dan Lungren, Kenny Marchant, Kevin McCarthy, Patrick McHenry, John Mica, Candice Miller, Sue Myrick, Devin Nunes, Mike Pence, Tom Price, Adam Putnam, Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Peter Roskam, Paul Ryan, Pete Sessions, John Shadegg, Adrian Smith, Mark Souder, Pat Tiberi, Fred Upton, and Joe Wilson.

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