Keeping tabs on those who represent us in Washington is a grueling year-round task. But it’s a crucial effort for progressives to have any legislative impact.
While we can be counted on to disagree among ourselves about what strategy and tactics to use in nudging Senators and Representatives in our direction (and, of course, on the details of what "our direction" is), an essential step in the process no matter what our specific viewpoint must be to acquire both basic and nuanced information. Only then can a smart plan of action be devised that will have a chance at success. The only way an innovative technique like the one being run on health coverage reform by FDL, with Kossacks nyceve and slinkerwink and Mike Stark in the trenches every day, is by first knowing, in detail, who is an ally, who could be an ally, who is an obstacle and who is a foe. It’s also about recognizing which obstacles and foes on one issue can be turned into an ally on another issue.
Right now, obviously, health care consumes most of the oxygen in the room. Having been unable to get traction for single-payer reform, which was (and ultimately remains) the first choice of vast numbers of progressives, it remains to us to ensure that the compromise stance – public option – doesn’t get dropped. And that the term itself doesn’t get slapped onto a reform that doesn’t really qualify as public option. Most progressive energy, therefore, ought to be - as it has been - focused there.
But another huge issue is just around the corner. It’s the Senate debate and vote on the climate bill being crafted by Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator John Kerry. Nearly as controversial and definitely as crucial to our well-being as health coverage reform, the legislation – the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) – was considerably diluted in the House, and fears are that it faces more dilution as coal-state Senators and others get their hands on it. Our goal as progressives should be not merely to find allies to block additional watering down, but to make the Senate bill stronger than what the House has approved. The Adopt-a-Senator for ACES project is one way to address this.
Today it was announced that the Senate legislation, the Kerry-Boxer bill, which was going to be rolled out the day after Labor Day, will be delayed because of the continuing debate on health care, Senator Edward Kennedy’s death, and Kerry’s recent hip surgery. This is the second delay. An August deadline for Boxer’s committee to finish writing the bill was extended in early July, when Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid set a new September 28 deadline for completing the debate.
The question now is whether the unfinished Senate bill and the House bill will emerge from a conference committee soon enough for a vote before the end of the year. That seems unlikely. And even if it does, it's next to impossible that any climate legislation will reach the President’s desk in time to have something to take to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen the first half of December.
A number of critics say the White House must have something in hand in Denmark to show that it’s serious and thus get some movement from ever-more carbon-intensive countries like China and India. Joseph Romm at Climate Watch has argued, on the other hand, that if the President could get a serious commitment from China at Copenhagen, it might move the Senate in a positive direction. Hard to know if Romm is right. Will it take a move by China to nudge the Senate? Or it will take a move by the Senate to nudge China? Whatever the case, he is certainly right in saying:
... most important of all is that team Obama and the Senate leadership learn from the health care reform morass/debacle and get in front of the messaging and framing of the climate bill. The climate bill is, as noted above, actually easier from a political perspective than health care reform — in part because our side has a clear, winning positive message.
As part of the effort to get both a better bill and to encourage better messaging upfront, Kossack RL Miller initiated the collaborative Adopt-a-Senator for ACES project that is an outgrowth of DK GreenRoots, the new 435-member environmental group that Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse and I launched two months ago with the help of other energetic environmental advocates.
AAS for ACES is adopting 37 Senators and researching their contributors, their voting records on environmental issues, what environmental organizations and energy corporations say about them, whether they’ve been quiet or outspoken on climate and energy issues, whether they sit on relevant committees, whether they are from coal states, whether they are likely to be key players when push comes to shove on the legislation, as well as other pertinent information. Obtaining all this means going to public sources, on and off the Internet, as well as talking with journalists and experts on the legislation in organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Alliance for Climate Protection and 1Sky.
We’re doing this collaboratively, helping each other with research, giving tips on reading between the lines, editing, and discussing how we can work with others at Daily Kos and elsewhere to get the best possible bill onto the President’s desk. We seek to have at least one person assigned to each of our chosen Senators. So far, 17 Kossacks have signed up, so we need at least 20 more. Fifty would be better. Several diarists have already written their first take on the Senators they have adopted: Here they are:
SolarMom: Kay Hagan Knows Better, But We Could Lose Her
sewenviro: Sen. Bill Nelson is a Hippie
B Amer: Adopt a Senator - Carl Levin
You can join AAS for ACES (choosing your own Senator or teaming up with someone who has already adopted one) by having a chat with coordinator RL Miller here. If you’re not already a member of DK GreenRoots, you can join here.
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Except for Meteor Blades, a staffer at Daily Kos who is providing advice, all participants in the Adopt-a-Senator for ACES project are unpaid volunteers.