Recycling ideas between parties not uncommon

As a follow-up to our class discussion about the modern health care debate originating with Nixon, a Hill article reminds us that a key proposal in the environmental debate, cap-and-trade, also was a Republican idea.

Obama brought it up briefly in a speech, saying, “The first president to talk about cap-and-trade was George H.W. Bush. Now you've got the other party essentially saying we shouldn’t even be thinking about environmental protection. ‘Let's gut the EPA.’”

Obama wasn't so much talking about cap-and-trade itself as he was using it as evidence of a recent GOP shift to the right, but his comment still highlights the ability of policy proposals to shift between parties depending on the political context.