Climate 411

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

This morning a Senate cloture vote to focus debate on the Climate Security Act and end the filibuster failed to win the necessary 60 votes. As a result, Majority Leader Harry Reid removed the bill from consideration this year.

On the plus side, a majority of senators – 48 to 36 – voted in favor, and six more senators sent written statements of support, bringing the total to 54. While the bill could not survive the continuing delay tactics, it garnered important new momentum that sets the stage for quick action in the next Congress.

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This post is by Charlie Miller, director of communications at Environmental Defense Fund.

Today’s Senate debate on the Climate Security Act included quite a few misstatements of fact. We thought we’d offer corrections of some of the most egregious.

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This post is by Derek Walker, deputy director of the State Climate Campaign and director of the California Climate Initiative at Environmental Defense Fund.

Two weeks ago I posted about California’s Dangerous "Proposition 98", with hidden provisions threatening the state’s environmental laws. The alternative, Proposition 99, achieves the stated goals of Proposition 98 (protecting homeowners from having their dwellings seized for development) without threatening environmental protections.

The vote took place on Tuesday, and I have good news to report.

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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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