Checking in on the Fate of Green ETFs as Legislation Moves Through Congress

WASHINGTON – Amid the throngs who rallied here last weekend to protest the Keystone XL pipeline were Antonette Clarke, 71, and her biologist husband, John, 75. The Maryland couple struggled against a brisk subzero wind to hold up a sign saying, “Put scientists not lawyers on the Hill.”

Lacking the votes needed to break a filibuster, Harry Reid has given up on passing a bill responding to the oil spill before the August recess; Democrats have now offset the state aid bill with an $11.9 billion cut in food stamps and they're still not sure they have the votes; the new head offshore drilling regulator says the Obama administration may lift its drilling moratorium before it was due to end; and Elena Kagan is on track to be confirmed tomorrow afternoon or evening. Ah, Wednesday. Welcome to Wonkbook. Top Stories

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday would give Congress the power to approve TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL pipeline project to link Canada’s oil sands with refineries and ports in Texas. The measure, unveiled by John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, and Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, would take approval of the more than 800,000-barrels-per-day pipeline out of the hands of the Obama administration.

Government Executive reports House passes balanced budget bill. The House on Wednesday passed legislation that directs President Obama to submit a balanced budget plan to Congress this spring.

By Charles Morand (AltEnergyStocks): Tom Konrad CFA Senator Jeanne Shaheen (Photo credit: sskennel) and Sentaor Rob Portman (official photo)

I don't want to say that a serious climate change bill is dead, exactly, but this statement from Jim Manley, Harry Reid's spokesman, doesn't inspire confidence. “Sen. Reid has made it clear to proponents on and off the Hill and at the White House that anything he brings to the floor will need broad bipartisan support,” Manley told Politico. Does anyone think that a genuine climate bill has any chance of "broad bipartisan support" in an election year?

Dylan Matthews is writing Wonkbook while Ezra is in China. President Obama wants a line-item veto, which his administration says will, unlike Bill Clinton's, pass constitutional muster. The GOP has picked a set of FinReg skeptics to represent it in conference committee; will the group be effective or ignored? And a federal management expert alleges that there is $1 trillion in waste in the federal budget over 10 years. Welcome to Wonkbook. Top Stories