Republican senator to use energy bill to get leg up in November election

According to a Bloomberg report, Republicans at the US Senate are pushing to get energy proposals passed to boost their political party's chances in the upcoming elections slated for November this year. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, for example, is lobbying for a vote to aid the struggling coal industry in Kentucky two weeks before his Republican primary contest. In his efforts to forward his cause, he is reportedly attempting to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing new carbon standards for power plants in the US. The measures will supposedly shutter plants in his home state, the news agency said.

Deputy editor Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report said, "Coal is something that the senator wants to use to localize a national issue. Incumbents are saddled with the negatives of incumbency. They have to try to find a way to leverage their office into a campaign positive."

McConnell's political party has made allegations that the Obama administration is waging a war on coal in light of the new measures the US government plans to implement to decrease the effects of global warming. Bloomberg said McConnell's proposal is part of a bill the GOP that would promote energy-efficient buildings as they intend to boost domestic energy production or rein in the federal agency.

McConnell currently faces Louisville businessman Matt Bevin in the May 20 Senate primary in Kentucky. His support for the coal industry in the eastern part of the state has been a central theme of his bid for the sixth term, Bloomberg said.

Today on the Senate floor, McConnell said, "Kentuckians in the eastern part of my state are experiencing a depression that the president's energy policies are making worse. Coal is a vital industry to our economy and to the livelihoods of thousands of people in my state. We should be allowed to help them. But the majority leader (US senator Harry Reid) said no."

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US Senator Mitch McConnell, Environmental Protection Agency, US energy bill

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