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Obama's Senate Record on Nuclear Leaks

By Jeralyn

The New York Times examines Barack Obama's record on nuclear leaks legislation in the Senate.

The background: Exelon Corp. did not disclose some nuclear leaks in Illinois. Residents in Ill. were upset. Obama introduced a bill to help them.

Mr. Obama scolded Exelon and federal regulators for inaction and introduced a bill to require all plant owners to notify state and local authorities immediately of even small leaks. He has boasted of it on the campaign trail, telling a crowd in Iowa in December that it was “the only nuclear legislation that I’ve passed.”

The Times reports, that's not quite true. [More...]

A close look at the path his legislation took tells a very different story. While he initially fought to advance his bill, even holding up a presidential nomination to try to force a hearing on it, Mr. Obama eventually rewrote it to reflect changes sought by Senate Republicans, Exelon and nuclear regulators. The new bill removed language mandating prompt reporting and simply offered guidance to regulators, whom it charged with addressing the issue of unreported leaks.

Those revisions propelled the bill through a crucial committee. But, contrary to Mr. Obama’s comments in Iowa, it ultimately died amid parliamentary wrangling in the full Senate.

Obama's willingess to compromise with Republicans makes me nervous.

“Senator Obama’s staff was sending us copies of the bill to review, and we could see it weakening with each successive draft,” said Joe Cosgrove, a park district director in Will County, Ill., where low-level radioactive runoff had turned up in groundwater. “The teeth were just taken out of it.”

His "working majority" is code for working with Republicans. I don't want compromise. The reason to get a Democrat elected is so we can get the Democratic agenda implemented, not so we can have our leaders agree to water down legislation until it's Republican lite.

Others may pick up on this:

Exelon, the country’s largest nuclear plant operator [is] one of Mr. Obama’s largest sources of campaign money.

I give Obama the benefit of the doubt on that one. I am not concerned about his character or ethics, they are both top-notch.

It's the casting of Obama as the top liberal I have a problem with. His record just doesn't seem to support it. I don't want a President who reaches out to Republicans when he should be fighting them.

Update: Barack Obama's website has this response to the New York Times article.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 03, 2008 (boomark / email).