Climate 411

Update: Preliminary Senate Speeches Continue

Elizabeth ThompsonThis post is by Elizabeth Thompson, legislative director at Environmental Defense Fund.

This afternoon, the Senate approved a procedural motion that forces the Senate to take up the Climate Security Act. But the Senate is the Senate, and people who are set on ignoring the urgent need to act are using Senate procedures to slow down progress.

The speeches continue. We anticipate that the debate about the bill itself will start Wednesday or Thursday.

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Vote on Climate Change Bill Scheduled for June

Elizabeth ThompsonThis post is by Elizabeth Thompson, Legislative Director at Environmental Defense Fund.

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.

A bill has to pass both the House and the Senate to become law (see our previous post on how a bill moves through Congress). A climate change bill hasn’t yet been introduced in the House, but the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act already has passed out of committee in the Senate.

Whether the bill is brought to the Senate floor for discussion and vote is up to majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev), and Reid has taken this step. The bill will be considered by the full Senate in the first week of June.

Will it pass? It’s possible, but we need your support!

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Landmark Vote Sets Stage for Global Warming Action

This post is by Elizabeth Thompson, Legislative Director at Environmental Defense.

Climate Vote 2007

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.

November 1, 2007, may go down as America’s D-Day in the fight to avert the global warming crisis. A key Senate subcommittee just passed the Lieberman-Warner America’s Climate Security Act (S.2191) – a bipartisan bill to cap and reduce America’s global warming pollution.

The full Environment & Public Works Committee is expected to take up the legislation the week of November 12, so it could come to a vote by the end of the month. With this bill we have a real chance of passing a mandatory cap on emissions in this Congress!

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We Can Stop Global Warming without Hurting the Poor

This post is by Elizabeth Thompson, Legislative Director at Environmental Defense.

The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) just issued an analysis that says we don’t have to choose between solving the global warming crisis and protecting the lowest-income Americans. We can do both through a well-designed cap-and-trade system.

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Posted in Climate Change Legislation, Economics / Read 1 Response

US-CAP Targets Capitol Hill with Newspaper Ad

This post is by Elizabeth Thompson, Legislative Director at Environmental Defense.

Climate Vote 2007

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 US Climate Action Partnership (US-CAP) ran its first newspaper ad [PDF] last week in the widely read Capitol Hill newspapers Roll Call and the Politico. The ad urges Congress to “take prompt action” to reduce America’s global warming pollution and recommends a “cap-and-trade program that achieves emission reductions at the lowest possible cost.”

The ad is a clear signal that the partnership of 27 major corporations and 6 leading environmental organizations is eager to assert itself in the political debate and to push the global warming solutions agenda forward.

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Posted in Climate Change Legislation / Read 3 Responses

Climate Vote 2007: Why Now, Why Cap and Trade?

This post is by Elizabeth Thompson, legislative director.

Climate Vote 2007

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.

As we launch our campaign to demand a vote on a national global warming cap and trade bill this year, some may ask why now? And why cap and trade?

Both good questions. Here’s why.

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Posted in Climate Change Legislation / Read 2 Responses