Despite the pleas of thousands and thousands of Americans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told us last week that the Senate will not pass climate change legislation this summer.   

     Why?  The votes just aren’t there, says Reid.  There is no Republican support, and even some Democrats do not support the bill.  While Republican opposition is in keeping with the party’s lock-step opposition to virtually anything the President supports, it seems that the upcoming November elections have some Democrats worried they might pay too high a political price if they support a bill to cap carbon emissions.  But even some Democratic Senators who are not up for re-election this fall have done nothing to move the Kerry-Lieberman bill forward in the Senate. 

     Another reason we don’t have the Senate votes we need, says Eric Pooley, author of The Climate War:  True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Planet, is that President Obama missed a key opportunity to build support for the measure.  He failed to encourage the public, angered by the BP gulf oil disaster, to channel their anger into calls to their Senators to enact climate change legislation this summer.  

     Many Senate observers believe the next chance for passage of a Senate climate change bill will be the lame duck session, following the November elections.  If the Senate fails to pass a bill by January, the coresponding bill passed in the House last year dies, and we must start over.

     We can’t give up!  Despite the sorry current state affairs, we cannot forget that climate change is the moral issue of our lifetime.  We can’t afford to let up in our efforts to get Congress to do what the country desperately needs.   Based on recent messages I’ve received from national organizations that are working on this issue, here are several actions we can take now:

1)  Call your two Senators.  Let them know you are angry and disappointed that the Senate has failed to enact an economy-wide–or even utility industry-wide–carbon emissions cap.  Even though the bill is dead for now, you are urging your Senators to work for its passage by the end of the year.  Click on this link to find your Senators’ phone numbers.    http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm 

2)  Call your Senators, and urge them to vote for the Home Star Energy Retrofit bill.  This bill is being promoted by some Senators who are determined to pass SOME sort of energy bill this summer.  The bill would make substantial sums of money available to homeonwers for making energy-saving retrofits to their homes.  While no substitute for a strong climate change bill, this bill would save money, create jobs, and reduce greenhouse emissions.   

3)  Make use of the August recess.  Arrange to meet with your Senators when they are in the state during the recess.  At your Senators’ public appearances, express your opinion that  you are angry and disappointed that the Senate backed away from doing its job in passing climate change legislation this summer.  Try to get a commitment to pass a strong climate change bill this year.–April Moore

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 11:38 am and is filed under Act now to save our beloved Earth!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.