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Brown's Win and the Climate Vote
As we all drink our morning coffee and digest what this latest change-up means for the Senate, let me be the first to say - I continue to be hopeful that the Senate will take action on climate change.
The signs of momentum for a clean energy and climate bill outweigh any signs that come from the Massachusetts special election.
Take, for example, that this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated that he wants to pass the bill this spring, and that the bill has the tri-partisan support of Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman.
In a little more than 6 weeks, 1221 businesses have called for strong action on climate via American Businesses for Clean Energy.
Not to mention the fact that President Obama spent 15 hours at the negotiating table in Copenhagen drafting an international climate accord with his own pen because he believes so deeply in the need to confront climate change. Top it off with the fact that Americans are frustrated with the continuing high jobless rate. The clean energy and climate bill, meanwhile, will create nearly 2 million additional jobs.
That's the national picture. Now let's look at what Brown himself might do on climate. In fact, like his constituents, Brown has said he believes we need to address climate change.
While it's true that Martha Coakley was a more reliable vote in favor of a bill and it's true that Brown has ties to the conservative tea party movement, I am not counting Brown out.
Most of Brown's tea party supporters are out-of-staters, eager to push their agenda in whatever campaign they can. But now that the election is over, those folks will return home, and Brown will be left with the people who elected him -- Massachusetts citizens who have said in poll after poll that they want clean energy and climate legislation to pass.
Brown has a choice to make. He can choose to serve the interests of those tea baggers who live elsewhere or he can choose to represent the people of Massachusetts. I hope he decides to follow the example of fellow Northeastern Senators Snowe and Collins, leaders who walk the tightrope between the conservative Republican leadership and their environmentally-minded constituents.
He opposes, however, most of the mechanisms currently on the table for accomplishing that goal. This seems to be the new GOP equivalent of having your cake and eating it too. (Senator Murkowski is especially good at playing both sides of this game). But it's significant that these Republicans want to position themselves as proponents of fighting climate change - it means they and all their well-heeled advisors have concluded that time is on our side. They don't think they can just deny that the problem exists or claim that nothing needs to be done about it. We have to capitalize on their sense that the future lies with a greener economy, even if they seem to be doing their best to stave off that future for the time being.
I hope Brown doesn't use his fence-sitting to justify further delay. For if there was one thing the Massachusetts election showed is that voters want change, and they want it now.
People have grown impatient with their leaders. They don't give them much time to realize their campaign promises anymore. President Obama took office just one year ago, but people have already moved on to the next person screaming for change. Brown knows this: he adopted Obama's rhetoric from 2008 and ran as the change candidate.
It's true that democracy can be painfully slow. The average bill takes Congress several sessions to pass and the major bills can take decades.
But several issues are ripe for action. They have had more than enough time to mature, and voters are begging for resolution. Americans want lawmakers to ensure the fat cats on Wall Street become better neighbors, to bring health care to those less fortunate, and to create jobs and economic opportunity by tapping into the global clean energy marketplace.
This is the kind of change voters want to see, and Brown has a chance to be part of the action. If, on his first day in office, he decides not to repeat the Mantra of No but instead to actually get some work done, he could be a game-changer on climate.
Our door is open, Senator-elect Brown, if that is the path you choose. Help us draft a bill that will protect the environment and get the economy back on track.
POST YOUR COMMENTS
Comment by: teapartier at: February 17, 2010
I just LOVE how everyone decides to blame me and MY movement for everything. I guess making enemies means we are doing something right... standing up for what WE believe in. You can hate on it all you want but it will get your cause nowhere neither will it make our's less successful.
Comment by: 4v4t4r at: February 4, 2010Does it bother anyone that the prez sits at the head of the UNsecurity council? Does it bother anyone that this is high-treason against the U.S. Constitution that he swore to uphold, and thus, every citizen of the U.S. past, present, and future? Hmmm... I must be taking crazy pills...
Comment by: 4v4t4r at: February 4, 2010Mistake, xanatos: Carbon DIOXIDE, not monoxide. Monoxide is lethal and toxic, and is not produced by humans breathing. Plants do not breathe it. However, the rest of your post seems accurate, though I would refer people to more neutral information sites, such as USNEWS, Wiki, and such.
Comment by: Chas at: February 3, 2010It doesn't matter if you believe that humans are causing climate change. Oil is getting more expensive to get, and there is less of it everyday. Which means it is about as cheap as it is ever going to be now. Alternative energy sources are as expensive as they ever will be now, and will get cheaper with time. Depending on how much effort we put into it will determine how long it will take to be cheaper than oil.
Comment by: Arye Yayo at: February 3, 2010I'm an engineering student and I'm looking forward to the prospects of alternative energy. It's been in front of us this whole time, we tried to drive a solution in the 70's; small cars...yea. Now it seems we've done the exact opposite. Hummers are in style, and we could care less of the environment. I mean, look at the people who raised you!?!? This isn't the first "oil n gas crises," it's just a bass ackwards way of putting a detour on our opinions/guilts/ and most importantly...OUR RESPONSABILITY!!! If you wanna raise your kids in a toxic dump, where we have a system to discern whether or not it's ok to just GO OUTSIDE!!! In my experience, I see Denver as a dust bowl at the bottom of a hill. What the hell are you "professionals" doing? Your JOB is the welfare of those that support you...I can tell you one thing, u mess this us, we'll elect some one who will look out for not only our interests as the CITIZENS YOU SERVE...but our future legacy. You think I want to raise a kid is this day and age? NO! We have fricken warnings for how much to breath. All I can really say is government get off your mother effing thumbs and do what YOUR JOB IS! There's a reason it pays so well, you work for your country, and you better make a move to stop disgracing it like this...
Comment by: DJ at: January 30, 2010"Not to mention the fact that President Obama spent 15 hours at the negotiating table in Copenhagen drafting an international climate accord with his own pen because he believes so deeply in the need to confront climate change." Wow. What a sacrifice. We should all be inspired by that. We should all get our own pen and fly to Copenhagen and sit at a table for 15 hours and show the world that we're willing to sit at a table for 15 hours with our own pen. This brings tears to my eyes.
Comment by: activist at: January 29, 2010Your ideology on climate change and those that share your opinion have been lead astray by celebrities and populist tools who use you to further their agendas while systematically breaking down the Constitution and Liberties of The People of this country. Climate science is just that, science. It is not exact, and is certainly not infallible. It demands more debate and honest (unfudged) data in order for us to examine it factually and accurately. The Green Movement was moving along fine on it's own before the government decided to hijack it in order to funnel more taxpayer money to where they decide they want it to go, and most of the time it goes to their friends and special interests that fund them. The free markets speak for the people more than the government does, until government suffocates it out of existence. Wake up, before you blindly lead us all to poverty and the chains that will follow.
Comment by: Ozcar at: January 28, 2010Try to keep up, the people behind climate change have been exposed for the frauds they are. But, assuming that were not the case, the .gov CANNOT run the Senate cafeteria. What makes you think they can direct an economy? Would that be the sterling job they do with things like AMTRAK, the Post Office, Social Security....?