No A/C for Congress until Climate Bill Passes

Senator Boxer introduced the Government Shutdown and Default Prevention Act that would prevent Members of Congress and the President of the United States from being paid during a default or shutdown of the federal government. I would like to encourage her and other Senators to introduce a climate change bill similar to it. It would mandate no air conditioning for House and Senate office buildings or the Capitol until a climate change bill is passed. Hopefully it will be a good bill, not a big giveaway to polluters. In 2009-10, I was a supporter of the Cantwell-Collins CLEAR Act.

Climate bill post mortem: part 1 of 1 billion

About why the Senate failed:

"We weren't able to credibly promise political reward or punishment," Bill McKibben said. "The fact is, scientists have been saying for the past few years the world might come to an end. But clearly that's insufficient motivation. Clearly, we must communicate that their careers might come to an end. That's going to take a few years."

A Grist commenter asks, "what are the limits to plain speech and passion in this landscape? I worry we're about to launch the green movement equivalent of the Adlie Stephenson and Walter Mondale campaigns."

About why the CLEAR Act (Cap and Dividend) would have been better:

Peter Barnes wrote on Grist: don't underestimate "the political value of simplicity. It's hard for politicians to vote for a controversial policy like cap and trade (however it is spun) that neither they nor anyone else can explain. Lots of Americans get that putting a price on pollution makes sense, but if you can't tell them in a few sentences how that price will be set and where the money will go, you re not going to win them or their representatives over."

"...average families don't understand the intricacies of different carbon pricing mechanisms, but they can distinguish between having their pockets picked and having them filled."

Direct cash dividends to people "allows moderate Democrats and Republicans to vote for carbon pricing and not be annihilated at the polls."

Cap and Dividend is "an ambitious, workable and durable emission reducing system that already has some bipartisan traction and could conceivably get 60 votes in a more Republican Senate than we now have."

Why Graham's Tantrum might be Good for the Climate

The Kerry-Graham-Lieberman (KGL) climate bill, a mythical bill that no one has even seen but everyone keeps talking about, sort of like a unicorn, may not ever come to exist after Graham suddenly got furious when he found out that immigration might come before climate on the Senate's docket over the weekend.

KGL has changed many times depending on the polls and the business lobbies that its three sponsors met with over the last, what, 6 months, longer? Each change has resulted in more giveaways to coal, nuclear, and offshore oil drilling. I don't recall ever hearing about a change where they said, now that we've met with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, we are strengthening the emission reduction targets, returning even more permit auction revenues back to consumers, and investing even more into new cleaner technologies. But maybe I missed it.

So KGL, RIP. It played a key role in delaying real action on climate for at least 6 critical months, and distracted the Beltway Green Groups from motivating their members, mounting protests and blockades and putting real pressure on lip-service Senators. Now that the Dems 1 year opportunity is passing us by, KGL's delaying tactic was brilliant. Graham may be rewarded by Mitch McConnell for taking one for the team by faking partnership.

Or I could be wrong. All the liberal press keeps saying, Oh, Lindsey Graham was acting in good faith and it was Harry Reid who torpedoed this. How do we know this bail out wasn't planned all along, and this immigration thing isn't just a convenient excuse now that it's getting down to the wire and Graham would have had to finally put his name down on paper.

Anyway, adios KGL, hello CLEAR. The Cantwell-Collins climate bill has been around since December, but in all the anticipation for KGL, remained a runner up...until now. Now it is the last one standing. It is bipartisan. It reduces emissions, gives most of the permit auction revenues back to consumers, invests the rest in clean technologies, and lacks the freebies to coal, oil, and nuclear. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, it actually exists!

I'm not sure if actual existence is a pre-requisite for the media to take something seriously, or for Senators to start considering supporting something, but maybe it should be.

How Obama can get back on track

Take a risk or two.

Make it clear you represent the people, not the special interests.

Break the gridlock by showing some leadership, getting tough, and not waiting around for Congress. If some Senators are giving you a hard time, let them know that you will be supporting their primary opponents in the next election.

Fire Bernanke and Geithner. They smell of Dubya economic policy, Wall Street Bailouts, and Goldman Sachs bonuses. Corporations already have too much power, time for you to represent the people, and appoint some pro-people, not pro-too-big-to-fail banks, economists (if there are any).

Make it simpler. Sure, they are complex problems, but many of them have one sentence answers. For example:

Health care: Expand Medicare to cover all Americans. There, you did it. Was that so difficult? Some of the elderly might vote against it because they don't care about their own kids or grandchildren, but it seems like every human being (not corporation) would support it. You'll need those votes, after that Supreme Court ruling.

Climate Change: The CLEAR Act. Auction permits to polluters and return the revenues back to people as a cash dividend. The CLEAR Act is only 39 pages long, unlike the 1500 page pork-fest that the House passed.

Iraq: War is over, if you want it. Bring 'em home. Make a spectacle out of it. No need to land an airplane with a "Mission accomplished" banner, but do something honorable and classy, and tell us about the peace dividend and the balanced budget. Sorry to say it, Obie, but same for Afghani-quagmire. Your approval went down after your Peace Prize "War is good" speech. People like you because you can use words and diplomacy and don't need to use guns and swagger like that previous guy. We have problems at home, and stop using these Dubya-inspired wars as excuses.

Guantanamo: Close it. Yesterday. Find a loophole, do what you need to do. This represents an unfulfilled promise, an image of powerlessness, and it bothers me.

Jobs: Disaster prep and relief (Haiti), rebuilding New Orleans, energy retrofits. Make it happen, on the fast track.

Military spending: Cut it by about 50%, balance the budget, and pay for all the domestic programs above. This will take some guts. Do you have it?

I'm telling you, if the State of the Union is the same ol' "The State of the Union is strong, settle down America, eveyrthing is just fine, G-d bless America" eloquent but without substance, we won't be impressed, and we'll be back to yearning for change we can believe in, and I wish that change was the Green Party, but our Coke and Pepsi political system only seems to allow for two parties, and so the other one, the one with no solutions, will benefit, and the American people will suffer.