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In light of the tremendous importance of this legislation, LCV has made the unprecedented decision that the organization will not endorse any member of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election cycle who votes against final passage of this bill. Every Member of Congress received a letter informing them of this policy and LCV’s strong support for H.R.2454 on Tuesday, June 23. “The stakes could not be higher; a safer, healthier planet and a new energy economy hang in the balance, and it’s imperative that members of Congress be on the right side of history,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said in the letter to the House. … LCV’s endorsement is a nationally recognized shorthand that gives candidates for federal office legitimacy with environmental voters and donors.
Earlier today, two members of the House of Representatives most dedicated to advancing the nation on energy and environmental issues announced their opposition to the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act. This was, it is quite likely, a different call as there are quite strong (and even compelling) arguments to vote for the bill despite its flaws. Honestly, in their shoes, I don’t know what statement I would have made today.
Peter Defazio came to the floor to emphasize how ACES under cuts one of the nation’s greatest environmental achievements, the Clean Air Act, by withdrawing the EPA’s ability to regulate CO2 emissions.
Lloyd Doggett went to the floor to speak to a number of problems with the bill and his perceptions of its inadequacies. He issued the following statement:
“This energy bill’s fine print betrays its laudable purpose. The real cap is on the public interest and the trade is the billions from the public to polluters. It is too weak to greatly spur new technologies and green jobs. An Administration analysis shows that doing nothing actually results in more new renewable electricity generation capacity than approving this bill. “Vital authority for the EPA is stripped, but 2 billion additional tons of pollution are authorized every year, forever. Residential consumer protection incredibly is entrusted to the mercy of utility companies. Exempting a hundred new coal plants and paying billions to Old King Coal leaves him, indeed, a very merry old soul. This bill is 85% different from what President Obama proposed months ago. No wonder his Budget Director called this type of bill ‘the largest corporate welfare program in history of the United States.’ Until greatly improved, until families share in the billions this bill grants powerful lobbies, I cannot support it.”
Both DeFazio and Doggett struggled, it is certain, over how to vote on this legislation. And, both determined that the bill’s inadequacies in face of what is necessary to confront climate change were just too serious for them, in good conscious, to vote for the bill.
Lloyd Doggett, rated 92% in the 2008 LCV scorecard, is ineligible for a future LCV endorsement due to finding the bill inadequate in tackling our climate changes.
Peter Defazio, rated 100% in the 2008 LCV scorecard, is now ineligible for a future LCV endorsement due to finding the bill inadequate in tackling our climate challenges.
Likely Global Warming denier Collin Peterson, rated 85% in 2008, and coal-booster Rich Boucher, rated 77%, both central in serious weakening of this legislation. are both in line for LCV endorsements as they grudgingly support the watered down bill after winning major concessions for their interests.
For an excellent discussion of this issue, see Chris Bowers’ LCV Draws Line on Climate-Change Bill … In the wrong place and Collin Peterson Gets His Way, But Is Now A Great Environmentalist.
BREAK– UPDATE: Lloyd Doggett just made a statement stating that he will vote for the bill, in part because he has listened to the global warming denial wing of the Flat Earth society.
1 response so far ↓
1 Cpt. Robespierre // Jun 28, 2009 at 9:18 pm
When I got the message from the LCV that they were going to be so draconian over endorsements, I felt worried for just this reason. Had I been a member of Congress, I would have wavered on which way to vote much as Doggett did. LCV should NOT have taken that stance.