You hear a lot, from well-meaning Republican environmentalists of the sort you find on this site, or this one, or this one, that we’ll "never make any progress" on the environment until it becomes a bipartisan issue. Strangely, this scolding isn’t directed at the conservative movement, which has for decades obstructed any action dedicated to solving environmental problems. It’s directed instead at environmentalists who identify with the progressive movement, which has been pushing for action.
Strange.
I bring this up because energy and climate legislation is a hot topic these days, and several bills are winding their way through Congress. Possible progress, right? Only the Republican minority has — again, explicitly — vowed to block, um, everything. Says Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND):
I had a Republican colleague tell me it is the Republican strategy to try to prevent any accomplishment of the Democratic Congress. That is set in their caucus openly and directly that they don’t intend to allow Democrats to have any legislative successes, and they intend to do it by repeated filibuster.
So, yeah, I agree, the environment needs to become a bipartisan issue. But who’s preventing that from happening?
(via TP)
