Climate Politics

A list of strengthening amendments to the climate bill that will probably never be introduced

In all likelihood, these will never be formally introduced on the Senate floor, but here’s a list of the strengthening amendments to the Climate Security Act that various senators have floated: Renewable Electricity Standard, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): This amendment would require that states generate at least 20 percent of their electricity […]

Inhofe: ‘Hey, it’s not our fault’

“All Republicans want just one thing, and that is to debate this bill … When they pull the bill, I don’t want them to say that Republicans had anything to do with it.” — James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on the Senate floor Thursday, after Republican leadership spent nearly four days delaying debate of the Climate Security […]

House passes bill to green up schools

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would put more than $20 billion over the next five years toward improving energy efficiency in schools. Democrats say the modestly named 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act would save school districts billions in energy costs. In addition, said Education and Labor Committee Chairman […]

Senate race takes shape in New Mexico

This got lost in the flap over the Climate Security Act yesterday, but via Politico, on Tuesday night Rep. Steve Pearce narrowly won the Republican Senate primary in New Mexico. He beat out Rep. Heather Wilson by a margin of 51 to 49 percent in the contest to see who will replace GOP Sen. Pete […]

U.N. food summit ends without agreement on solutions

A high-level three-day United Nations food summit ended Thursday without wide agreement on solutions to the world food crisis. At the meeting, delegates sparred over trade barriers, biofuels’ role in keeping food prices high, agricultural subsidies, how food aid should be spent, and how much aid to give. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the conference […]

GOP leaders resort to high jinks to stall climate bill

Republican leaders essentially shut down the Senate Wednesday during what was supposed to be a time of debate on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, forcing clerks to read the entire 492-page bill aloud. Republicans said the maneuver — which sucked up nine hours — was a protest against the Democratic majority’s slow pace in considering […]

McCain asks Obama to plane-pool to joint town-hall meetings

Now that Barack Obama has the Democratic presidential nomination in the bag, John McCain says he wants to get the general election rolling. This morning, McCain invited Obama to join him for 10 town-hall-style meetings throughout the summer. In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, McCain said the “old-fashioned, traditional town-hall meeting” would “change […]

Arizona senator says no to Boxer-L-W without giga-subsidies for nukes

McCain said last night that he is the candidate of change. How is billions of dollars in subsidies to build hundreds of nuclear power plants "change"?

Here is everything you need to know about McCain's understanding of both energy and climate issues: He doesn't care enough about the climate to support even a so-so bill like Boxer-Lieberman-Warner unless there are giga-subsidies for nukes beyond the $100 billion or so the industry has received to date.

Will the Senate ever get to constructive (or destructive) debate on climate bill?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he won’t allow floor debate on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act to extend beyond next week, according to an article in E&E Daily ($ub. req’d) today. “If we don’t finish it next week, then it means something has gone wrong,” he’s quoted as saying. But at an […]

Senate GOP delays climate debate still further by forcing clerk to read Boxer amendment

Today in Senate action on the Climate Security Act, Republicans are forcing the clerk to read the entirety of the Boxer substitute amendment [PDF], claiming they haven’t had enough time to read it yet. It’s 157 pages long. Boxer, of course, protested, but her appeal was rejected. The clerk’s been reading for an hour already. […]