Climate 411

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

It took until 9:45pm last night to finish reading aloud the 491-page Climate Security Act – the latest in a series of Republican stall tactics. Afterwards, a very angry Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) accused Republicans of "doing everything in their power to slow, stop and stall" the bill, citing a GOP strategy memo obtained from a lobbyist. The memo (this Grist post links to it) said the Republicans’ goal was to "make political points" rather than amend the bill.

To move things forward, Reid filed a cloture motion to limit debate to 30 hours and proceed with a vote. This sparked another fight.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

As the Senate edges towards debate on the Climate Security Act, supporters and detractors of the bill are actively pushing for their position.

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This post is by Kusai Merchant, a policy specialist for the National Climate Campaign at Environmental Defense Fund.

At about 12:50pm today, the Senate passed a Motion to Proceed with the amendment process of the Climate Security Act. But are they ready to begin a real debate on the bill or amendments? Not quite yet…

Republicans objected to starting the amendment process without first having the clerk read the entire bill. So now the clerk is reading all 491 pages, word-for-word. At the current rate, the reading will take roughly 10 hours – that includes throat clearings and swigs of water. You can watch it live on C-Span2 (Senate Session).

This is the third procedural obstacle that opponents of progress have thrown up to a debate on the climate bill.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Our own Steve Cochran was on C-Span’s Washington Journal this morning with David Kreutzer of the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank), debating the Climate Security Act under consideration by the Senate this week. The hour-long call-in show got pretty animated at times. You can watch it on C-Span’s Web site.

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 is our best chance to pass climate legislation this year – something the science, the politics, and the economics say we need NOW. If you’re still not sure we need rapid action to cut greenhouse gases, read this. 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.

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This 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.