By David J. Sanders

It’s time to give credit where credit is due.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the controversial cap-and-trade legislation on a 219 to 212 vote. Three members of the state’s congressional delegation voted against the bill — Reps. John Boozman, the state’s lone Republican, Marion Berry and Mike Ross, two moderate Democrats — while Rep. Vic Snyder voted for it.

But on Monday, Snyder tried to temper harsh reactions to his vote, claiming that what the House approved wouldn’t become law. Instead, the House vote, according to Snyder, was the start of a long negotiation.

“We are in the fourth inning,” he said, adding that whatever bill the U.S. Senate voted on next would look profoundly different.

So why did he support it? Snyder, who fears dire consequences from man-made global warming, said it was a vote of conscience, stationing him “on the right side of history.”

But that wasn’t his only reason. He admitted that the intense lobbying by Entergy officials helped sway his vote. Entergy was one of a handful of utilities companies that signed onto the cap-and-trade legislation after getting a number of concessions written into the bill. Arkansas’ other utilities companies opposed it.

There was certainly the expectation that Boozman, the conservative Republican who represents the 3rd District, would oppose a bill jam-packed with thousands of new regulations that, if signed into law, would drive up the cost of energy and in turn put several U.S. businesses in the position having to ship American jobs off-shore to avoid shutting down. But eight of Boozman’s Republican colleagues broke ranks to help provide the votes necessary for passage.

Both Berry and Ross are members of the 50 or so moderate to conservative House Democrats. Berry, of course, represents the 1st District, with its patchwork of cotton, rice and soybean fields. He was somewhat quiet in the days preceding the vote. Berry, a fierce partisan to the core, wouldn’t want to do anything to provide too much aide and comfort to Republicans, but he also wouldn’t want to do anything to endanger the East Arkansas way of life.

Ross, who has one of the largest and most diverse congressional districts in the country, stretching from the Mississippi border to Indian country on Oklahoma’s border with a mountain range in between, was more vocal in his opposition to the bill.

He first fumed over cap-and-trade weeks ago after he discovered that the House Democratic leadership was writing the bill behind closed doors, excluding moderate Democrats. Ross explained at the time that it became obvious to him that the Democratic leadership’s strategy on cap-and-trade included blowing past the Blue Dogs on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

He and the other moderates on the committee could only slow down what was, in their estimation, a very bad bill.

Ross believed cap-and-trade would drive his constituents’ utility bills through the roof because the legislation unfairly targeted those utilities that rely on cheap energy derived from coal and Ross is a supporter of coal.

His district is home to SWEPCO’s coal-fired plant that is currently under construction.

Unlike Berry, Ross isn’t shy about slinging a little mud on his Democratic leadership. He’s quick to say that Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco values don’t line up with his. Ross has trained his fire on Pelosi and Company before. He has ridiculed the leadership’s handling of health-care legislation. Forty-two other Democrats joined Berry and Ross and voted against the legislation.

Now all the attention moves to the U.S. Senate. Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor doesn’t support cap-and-trade, but, not surprisingly, Sen. Blanche Lincoln has been less than forthcoming about how she will vote.

Now that Democrats have a solid 60 votes in the Senate with last week’s addition of comedian Al Franken, our two senators will no doubt begin to feel the pressure.

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David J. Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is the host of Arkansas Education Television Network’s “Unconventional Wisdom.” His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com.