Bipartisan House bill may signal growing consensus on climate change
The nascent congressional effort to fight global warming has spread to the House -- but supporters acknowledge that it's not likely to receive an especially warm welcome from the chamber's leadership.
Last week, a motley bipartisan crew of representatives including Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) and John Olver (D-Mass.) stood beside Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) to introduce companion legislation to the senators' Climate Stewardship Act. The House version, like the Senate's, proposes to set a mandatory cap for greenhouse-gas emissions and create a market-based carbon-dioxide trading system that would allow companies to buy and sell the right to pollute.
Though the senators' bill met expected defeat on the Senate floor last fall, the narrow 43-55 loss stunned both sides and presented powerful evidence of a growing consensus that federal measures to address global warming are needed.
"Every week now, we have a new study come out on the increases of greenhouse gases," said McCain at a press conference with the sponsors of the House bill. "The overwhelming body of scientific opinion shows that global warming and its ill effects exist."
McCain and Lieberman plan to bring their bill up for another vote in the Senate this spring.
"We're very hopeful," said Casey Aden-Wansbury, Lieberman's press secretary. "We're seeing more and more economists and scientists voicing their concerns about global warming, and taking those concerns to Senate leaders. Even the Pentagon -- hardly a traditionally pro-environment institution -- has come out with a report on the growing threat of global warming, which could help [reform] some cynics and bring new supporters on board."
While Aden-Wansbury said it's too early to predict how many new yea votes Lieberman and McCain will be able to recruit for their bill, the senators are confident they'll get more support this time around.
Continue reading this original story from Grist Magazine:
Housewarming - Bipartisan House bill may signal growing consensus on climate change
To learn more about what Earth Share of Washington member Environmental Defense is doing to support this Bill, please visit their website: Global Warming: Undo It