Praise Rolls In For Gore

Hours after Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, congressional Democrats eagerly praised the former vice president and used the occassion as a call to action.

On Friday, Gore was named co-winner of the prize along with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work to alert the world to the threat of global warming.

“This award recognizes not only the work of Mr. Gore and the IPCC, but the very real challenge the world faces in global warming,” said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

“Now that Mr. Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize, it is up to Congress to act.”

Markey singled out pending energy legislation as an important first step towards tackling the problem.

There are also several major climate change bills pending in Congress, including a House bill introduced by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and several other proposals in the Senate as well.