Those few of us who follow climate change news have noticed some sniping between the executive and legislative branches of government on the timing of climate change. Various Senators have been discussing the need to slow down on climate change, and various administration officials have insisted that it be done this year. So who's winning?
BREAKING -- lest there be any doubt whatsoever that Obama wants a climate change bill passed this year, he'll give his first global warming speech September 22 to the United Nations. He's not done with healthcare reform, but already he's multi-tasking. Can we?
First, a quick review of the sniping. The American Clean Energy & Security Act (sometimes aka Waxman-Markey, cap & trade, and HR 2454) passed the House in June. Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry planned to introduce their version in July...then September 8...then, on August 31, announced a delay to later in September. The next day, Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency responded in Boxer's hometown newspaper that if the Senate would not act in regulating greenhouse gases (aka carbon emissions), regulation by the EPA would happen in the next months. A Friday night news dump Politico story hinted that Obama would try to enact financial regulatory reform before taking on the climate challenge. Yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar insisted that Obama wants climate change as much as he wants healthcare reform...although no one might have noticed, given the single-minded focus on healthcare reform.
The dark cloud of the Van Jones story has had two silver linings: it exposed the right wing smear machine behind Glenn Beck (and, incidentally, healthcare reform town hall deathers), and it unified the climate movement as never before.
Today, Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark), new chair of the influential Senate Agricultural Committee, repeated past remarks about delaying climate change legislation until after this year -- because, after all, it's not like climate change is an urgent matter or anything, right?
And Obama has finally responded. Today, the White House announced that on September 22, the President will speak to a special United Nations session designed to jump-start the Copenhagen talks. The purpose of the summit is to "mobilize the political will and vision needed to reach an ambitious agreed outcome based on science at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen," according to UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon.
Today, Obama's chief Copenhagen negotiator, Todd Stern, told the House select global warming committee:
It is critical that the Senate now do its part to move this process forward in a timely manner. Nothing the United States can do is more important for the international negotiation process than passing robust, comprehensive clean energy legislation as soon as possible.
...the national security threats posed by climate change are real. As detailed in a recent front page story in the New York Times, discussing the rising concerns of the national security community, a world of uncontrolled climate change – with ever worsening storms, droughts, floods, the increased spread of disease; melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and more severe shortages of food and water – means a world of new and intensified security threats as millions of people are displaced, states are destabilized, and competition for resources intensifies.
We are approaching this issue with the sense of urgency that it demands and are determined to do all we can to make the progress that is necessary to have a successful outcome in Copenhagen. Mr. Chairman, the world is going to make history over the course of the next months and years. We will either make it for the right reasons – because we found common ground and set ourselves on a path toward a new, sustainable, low-carbon model; or for the wrong reasons - because we blinked at the moment of truth and left our children and grandchildren to face the consequences. We have to get this right.
We have to get this right.
Through our healthcare reform work, we have unified and strengthened a vibrant Progressive Caucus in the House that will fight for a public option. We must now multitask. Even while we continue to fight for meaningful healthcare reform, we must also fight for a stronger ACES bill than the one watered down by the Blue Dogs, coal interests, and special interests in the House. We have to get the bill right in the Senate.
You may have seen sporadic Adopt A Senator For ACES diaries over the last few weeks. I am coordinating a whip project in which a volunteer targets a particular Senator, ascertains and diaries the Senator's likely vote on ACES, and tracks the Senator's position as the bill moves through the Senate. Meteor Blades has previously written Adopt-A-Senator For ACES Targets Climate Legislation, and I originally announced Adopt A Senator for ACES, Win Friends, Influence Senate. Although 18 Senators have been adopted to date, there are plenty more to be adopted, including Max Baucus (D-MT), Mark Begich (D-AK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Lindsay Graham (R-SC). Please contact me (email address in profile) for details.