Time for Climate Action in the House

This post is by Carol Andress, Economic Development Specialist at Environmental Defense.

Operation Climate Vote

This post is part of a series on the work of the Environmental Defense Action Fund to enact an effective climate law. You can help by writing to Congress.

The U.S. House of Representatives is back in session this week, and they have some important work to do.

Last month, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (CSA) was passed out of committee in the Senate. This means that the bill now can be considered by the full Senate – an important step. But for a bill to become law in this country it has to be passed by both the House and Senate, and the House has not yet moved on climate legislation. (See our previous post for more on the legislative process.)

Before the break, the House was preoccupied with the energy bill, but that’s now been passed. Next up should be climate legislation, and support is building for it. Here’s what House members have been saying:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA):

Referring to the energy bill (Environmental News Service, 11/28/07):

This energy package will lay the groundwork for the Congress to move forward next year with comprehensive action to address climate change.

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI):

Floor remarks during debate on the energy bill, (Congressman’s Web site, 12/6/07):

As soon as this bill has passed, the members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce will return to their offices and begin working on comprehensive climate change legislation that will address those subjects in a much broader and appropriate context.

Rep. Richard Boucher (D-VA):

Referring to passage of the energy bill (Congressional Quarterly, 1/14/08):

Now we can shift our attention to climate change as the first priority. The goal is to have the bill passed in the House, conferenced with the Senate version and presented to the president for his signature by the end of this year.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA):

Referring to passing global warming legislation this year (National Journal, 1/12/08):

It’s preferable to give everything that you can when you have the opportunity. The issue is too urgent to treat as an item on the political agenda.

We are very happy to see these strong words, but now we need action. Time is running out to solve the global warming crisis.

Waiting just two years to enact national climate legislation would double the rate at which the U.S. will need to cut emissions – from just under 2 percent a year to more than 4.3 percent – to bring emissions down to where they need to be by 2020. This would greatly increase costs, and risk our passing the tipping point.