The Governator. Photo: gov.ca.gov

Ahhhnold is calling out the U.S. government for being a bunch of girly men and women on climate change. On Monday, he teamed up with Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, a fellow Republican, to chastise the folks on the Hill for “inaction and denial” on climate change in an open letter published in the Washington Post. Not only have they failed to take major federal action, they’ve also tried to thwart actions by progressive states like California and Connecticut, the governors said.

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“It’s bad enough that the federal government has yet to take the threat of global warming seriously,” wrote the guvs, “but it borders on malfeasance for it to block the efforts of states such as California and Connecticut that are trying to protect the public’s health and welfare.”

They also called out the Bush administration for their milquetoast climate statements issued last week, which would give them until the end of 2008 to continue studying what they might sometime do about greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a total cop-out, say the governors, since that’s pretty much the end of Bush’s term in office, and it really doesn’t mean they have to do anything. Plus, that puts us another year behind on curbing emissions and slowing climate change.

“California, Connecticut and a host of like-minded states are proving that you can protect the environment and the economy simultaneously,” the letter continues. “It’s high time the federal government becomes our partner or gets out of the way.”