Rep. Lee Terry (NE) was interviewed by the conservative blog Let Freedom Ring yesterday. Terry, a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke on the House cap and trade legislation:
The first question I hasked Rep. Terry was whether there was any breaking news from today’s hearing. He said that David Sokol’s testimony put the Democrats on the defensive. Rep. Terry said that his staff will be posting the video of that later today.
Rep. Terry also made mention of the fact that the Blue Dogs had either been bought off or they were threatened into supporting this legislation. Rep. Collin Peterson threatened to kill the bill unless he got some concessions for Red River Valley farmers. It was Rep. Terry’s understanding that Rep. Peterson has now agreed to hold a single hearing on the bill and that he’s now supporting it. Rep. Terry said that he couldn’t confirm whether Rep. Peterson had won any concessions from Waxman-Markey.
What he was sure of is that alot of additional allowances were given on a purely political basis to buy Democratic votes. I asked whether the committee used a formula to determine their caps. Rep. Terry confirmed that that hadn’t happened. Rep. Terry noted that Republicans weren’t in the room when these caps were determined.