# Every Vote Against This Bill Makes Oil Companies Happier

*Published:* 2008-06-03
*Author:* Tony Kreindler

![Tony Kreindler](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2008/03/tony_kreindler.jpg)*This post is by Tony Kreindler, media director for the National Climate Campaign at Environmental Defense Fund.*

The coming vote on the [Climate Security Act](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2007/10/18/lieberman-warner_bill/) is our best chance to pass climate legislation this year – something [the science](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2008/05/19/ice_core_record_800ky/), [the politics](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2008/01/25/why-a-bill-in-2008-same-politics-in-2009/), and [the economics](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2008/04/23/cost_of_capping_ghg/) say we need NOW. If you’re still not sure we need rapid action to cut greenhouse gases, [read this](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2008/02/14/price_of_waiting/). Now is the time to act.

Even if we fall short of enacting a new law in 2008, this vote is a critical opportunity for Senators to stand up and go on record as supporting urgent action on climate change. Anything else will take away from the momentum to act. The bottom line is this: **People who oppose this bill are giving comfort to the oil companies.**

After all the votes are counted, win or lose, the number of yes votes is will be interpreted as the number of Senators who support meaningful action against global warming. In news reports, in history books, no one’s going to care that the fine print reads “plus three more Senators who were so serious about action that they voted *against* this bill, hoping an even tougher one would come along.”

**The more Senators that vote for this bill, the stronger will be the message that the U.S. is serious about solving climate change.** We need that message to be loud and clear – for the House, where legislation is also starting to move; for the president (and possibly the next president), whose signature can make the bill law; for international negotiators as they work toward global reductions; and for next year’s Congress, if the fight stretches out that long.

**The fewer Senators that vote for this bill, the more excuses others will have for weak action.** It will be that much easier for industry lobbyists to demand escape hatches, loopholes and exceptions that make it harder to cut emissions enough to effectively address climate change. It will be that much easier for senators and House members to give in to them. And it will be that much easier for the House and the president to get away with doing less.