July 7, 2009
Obama's Cabinet Pushes Climate Bill
Top Members of the Obama Administration on Tuesday Urged the Senate to Adopt Climate Change Legislation
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The Obama administration on Tuesday urged the Senate to pass a climate change bill similar to one passed in the House, though the Senate may make more compromises, such as boosting nuclear energy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The heads of the Energy Department, Agriculture Department, Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency told a Senate panel it should pass a bill similar to one the House narrowly cleared late last month. That legislation would impose the first limits on greenhouse gases, eventually leading to an 80 percent reduction by mid-century by putting a price on each ton of climate-altering pollution.
"We will not fully unleash the potential of the clean energy economy unless this committee, and the Senate, put an upper limit on the emissions of heat-trapping gases that are damaging our environment," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in prepared testimony. Salazar acknowledged that another Senate panel has already advanced a bill that would boost the amount of energy generated from renewable sources.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned that a projected temperature increase would make the world a much different place, and said the only way to avoid that outcome is by enacting legislation to curb emissions, such as carbon dioxide, released by the burning of fossil fuels.
"Denial of the climate change problem will not change our destiny; a comprehensive energy and climate bill that caps and then reduces carbon emissions will," Chu said.
But Chu and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson admitted that reductions in the U.S. alone will not be enough to avert the worst consequences of global warming. The hope is that the legislation will inspire other countries to also act.
"U.S. action alone will not impact world carbon dioxide levels," Jackson said. "What the U.S. does is important in terms of entering the clean energy race."
The appearance of the three Cabinet secretaries and EPA administrator signals the beginning of the Senate's work on a climate bill. The committee hopes to draft and advance legislation before the August recess, and Senate leaders have said they want to take up the measure this fall, before talks on a new global treaty to reduce heat-trapping gases.
The House narrowly passed its version of the bill 219-212 late last month, after months of negotiations that led to last-minute deals and significant concessions to win the votes of moderate Democrats from industrial and agricultural states concerned about the costs the bill would impose on businesses in their districts.
Further compromises will be needed for the bill to pass the Senate, and the debate launched Tuesday offered some early clues as to where those changes may occur: provisions to boost nuclear energy and to further compensate farmers for projects that would reduce greenhouse gases.
Unlike the House, the Senate has tried and failed to pass legislation to curb the global warming pollution before, a track record Republicans seized on Tuesday.
"You can be sure of this: once the American public realize what this legislation will do to their wallets, they will resoundingly reject it," said Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the panel's top Republican. "Perhaps that explains why we are rushing cap-and-trade through the Senate."
All four administration officials sought to head off cost concerns, citing analyses by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that estimated the House bill would cost the average household in 2020 less than 50 cents a day.
And that, Jackson testified, leaves out the benefits of addressing global warming, such as more jobs, less money flowing overseas to oil producers and averting the floods, drought and disease expected to come when the Earth's temperature rises.
"Can anyone honestly say that the head of an American household would not spend a dollar a day to safeguard the well-being of his or her children ... and to create new American jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced?" she asked.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 39 CommentsWhat do the top ten cities with the highest poverty rate all have in common?
Detroit, MI (1st in poverty) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961;
Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954;
Cincinnati, OH (3rd) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1984;
Cleveland, OH (4th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1989;
Miami, FL (5th) has never had a Republican mayor;
St. Louis, MO (6th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1949;
El Paso, TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor;
Milwaukee, WI (8th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1908;
Philadelphia, PA (9th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1952;
Newark, NJ (10th) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1907.
Pittsburgh, PA (11) ... No Republican held ANY office in Pittsburgh for 65 years until two were elected in 1995.
The democrats do more to keep people poor than the Republicans have ever done, the poor simply believe what the democrats say and they are still poor.
The Europeans have found that the majority of "Green" jobs are temporary at best, and the fact that there is more toxic waste with solar panels is another factor the environmentalists leave out of any reports. Landfills will not except used solar panels, they wear out after a short period of time or they get broke by mother nature and you have an expensive piece trash that you will have to get rid of that will cost more to recycle than it cost to buy new.
Windmills are expensive to put up and just as expensive to maintain. That added to the fact they take up a lot of space that could be used for crops is another fact the enviros leave out when they push their agenda.
Without a transition period from oil and gas to renewables there can only be chaos in the renewables ideaology, and poverty for the American people. That is the "change" that is most readily showing up for the future of this nation under the present administration.
The American people "cannot" afford cap and trade or any other garbage the democrats and their one of many, bedpartners, the environmentalists, want to push off on us. Some of them have even said it would take many years for any action today to even show up in the atmosphere, which is just another way of saying, it's just another power and money thing for those who think they deserve all they can get by decieving everyone else.
Or did he already forget about that little promise ?
Now all we get is a bunch of goofy bills that nobody asked for,and Biden says they didn't realize things were that bad.
You can't improve this economy by printing paper money-you need to manufacture goods to make jobs.
Obama is beginning to look like the last guy,another loser,just a slicker package.
OMG taxes. OMG socialism. Let's give ALL our money to the rich corporations who pay no taxes and hope for a bone. Wheeeeee!
Bone headed, ignorant tea baggers unite. Welfare for the rich, tax the poor, then we can have even more money for war. Wheeeeee!
The poor don't pay taxes moron. You people want to take money from the working and give to the non working. By the way fannie and freddie were obamas buddies. The tea baggers just want to stop paying for everyone else's bills, I pay my own, I pay my taxes, I shouldn't have to pay yours. Would you rather put millions out of work by getting rid of corporations. Gee, liberals are dumber than I thought. The tea baggers where against the bailouts, it's the libs who wanted it.
The hyperbole prone Goreacle said today: ?Winston Churchill aroused this nation(England) in heroic fashion to save civilisation in World War II.?
He added: ?We have everything we need except political will but political will is a renewable resource.? Mr Gore admitted that it was difficult to persuade the public that the threat from climate change was as urgent as the threat during World War 2.
The Chicken Little Goreacle added: ?The only way politicians will act is if awareness raises to a level to make them feel that it?s a necessity.?
?The level of awareness and concern among populations has not crossed the thresh hold where political leaders feel that they must change."
We've already had too much consciousness raising. Kill the bill, now!
?The level of awareness and concern among populations has not crossed the thresh hold where political leaders feel that they must change."
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Thus the need for more propoganda.
I have an old wood stove & enough downed timber on my property to keep it burning for 100 years. Small solar panels to charge my LED light system. Setting up a battery power storage unit & my large solar panels are on order. Just a few more items to pick up & I'll be off the grid totally. I'm not doing all this because I buy into the climate change thing. I'm doing it to raise a huge middle finger to all the new taxes that are going to be added to your power bill. By some estimates, take a look at last January's power bill & double it. (Possibly more in some regions) Many of you will be begging Chavez to stop by your house with some of that discount heating oil. (But, will they let you burn it??)
1) Increased Taxes
2) Earmarks
3) Hiring Lobbyists
And thats just the start...Cap and Trade will kill this country. Businesses will leave and move overseas killing the job market. Besides whats the point in Cap and Trade if we are the only ones doing it. Wake up America, don't allow this to happen.
Bone headed, ignorant tea baggers unite. Welfare for the rich, tax the poor, then we can have even more money for war. Wheeeeee!
That is what free enterprise is all about. If you can earn it do so. If not, find another way. What is wrong with someone with a great idea getting rich on it?
Go ahead and leave...it'll be hard to find a place for you that doesn't have that 'socialist' healthcare system though. Bye Bye Repulsivecan!
With the Republicans gone i.e. taxpayers who will pay for your healthcare. I pay for mine and have since I was eighteen, do you pay for yours?
I would love all the Republicons to leave this country. All they do is teabag each other while complaining about some of the lowest taxes in the world. They support scum sucking fascist corporations who take our young for invasions for profit. They believe that they are entitled to get everything but pay for nothing like our criminal big corporate CEOs. They are a disgusting, twisted, perverted and greedy group those Republicons.
I love the entitled and pay nothing comment. The Republicans are the ones paying your bills so you can sit on your behind all day. You don't mind the cap and trade increasing prices on everything and moving companies to other countries because everyone else foots the bill for you. Again my question is once obama taxes the working people to death, who will then pay your bills? And you and your kind are the greedy ones who want collect others paychecks. Republicans believe in paying their own way, taking care of themselves, with hard work and non whining. Gee, when was the last time you saw a welfare addict voting Republican.
Once again a warm heart felt thank you goes out to all the idiots who put this moron in office. What will you all do when he taxes the Republicans out of this country, who then will pay your bills.
The liberal democrats / aka "the middle class".
The same people that have been over-taxed to death for years.
At least now while we're paying taxes, the republiscum won't be there looking for tax breaks and bailouts, siphoning off our hard earned money.
Do you REALLY believe you are correct in yor assessment of who the middle class is ?
CLUE - liberals tend to be younger than Conservatives, because once you start to make money, you start to see the light of not allowing others to give it away.
As long as he's got TOTUS, or do you need proof like in all those youtube videos, LOL 57 states.................................................
"WE ACTUALLY HAVE A PRESDENT WHO CAN CHEW GUM AND WALK AT THE SAME TIME!!!!"
Perfect for bubble gummers.
57 states.
One of Obama's ONLY misstatements, and you clowns are STILL whipping that dead horse.
But I guess if it's all you've got, you pretty much don't have a choice, do you?
Thanks for your stimulating point of view.
Zero intellect and facts, and all name calling.
Yes, Moderates, these are the people you aligned yourself with.
Hey NE, just wait until next winter when there will be no coal for your cheap heating of your homes and no home oil for your furnaces. I expect that is when something will hit the fan as god forbid NE were to suffer under a democrat.
WE ACTUALLY HAVE A PRESDENT WHO CAN CHEW GUM AND WALK AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
Any President that thinks he is going to "Change" the climate is freeking nuts though.
This man is trying to ruin the nation, and he's doing a Damn fine job of that.
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