Waxman-Markey Passes 219-212
Posted by Reede in Politics & Economics on 26th June, 2009 | 3 Comments
It would be great to feel like celebrating the 219-212 House of Representatives vote to pass the Waxman-Markey climate bill. But I don’t. The bill has serious problems and will probably get much worse in the Senate since conservative states hold more power there.
Our “progressive” leadership in the House behaved about as undemocratically as possible. No amendments were allowed without the approval of the leadership, so here are some of the amendments that were not considered.
- Restore EPA’s authority to regulate CO2
- Control financial speculation
- Reduce offset quantity
- Improve offset quality
- Ban international offsets
- Encourage allowance efficiency
- Strengthen renewable electricity standards
- Install solar panels on federal buildings
- Federal procurement of electric and hybrid vehicles
- Remove waste incineration from renewable definition
Pretty bad, huh. But here’s the capper. Roughly 25% of the bill’s content, 300 pages, was added at about 3am on the day of the vote, so most Members of Congress weren’t quite sure what they were voting on.
Here’s the sad truth. Lobbyists were all over Capitol Hill making sure that the financial interests of their employers were well served by Waxman-Markey. The 1200-plus pages that it now runs are more a reflection of the deals made than the process of controlling carbon. When bills get this complex, the people do not win.
Waxman-Markey’s progress through the House made it crystal clear that aggressive climate action will require getting the money out of American politics. Check out George Monbiot’s article, The Failed State of US Climate Change Policy, on this same subject.
If you’re ready to take action to reduce the influence of money on government, you may be interested in Public Citizen’s Fair Elections campaign.
Business as usual for lobbyists means inadequate action to prevent climate catastrophe.
Posted on: June 26, 2009
Filed under: Politics & Economics
3 Comments
Zarah
July 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Ok, so I’m not the biggest Thomas Friedman fan, but happened to read his recent NYT Op-Ed regarding the passing of this bill and I happen to agree with him and want to echo his last point of the people standing up and being heard.
“Attention all young Americans: your climate future is being decided right now in the cloakrooms of the Capitol, where the coal lobby holds huge sway. You want to make a difference? Then get out of Facebook and into somebody’s face. Get a million people on the Washington Mall calling for a price on carbon. That will get the Senate’s attention. Play hardball or don’t play at all.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/opinion/01friedman.html?_r=1
While the US government continues to struggle with figuring out this bill, the environment continues to deteriorate, so what we have to do is remind them (and everyone) that we’re all in this together and time is running out.
Great blog.
Joyana
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Not only do I not feel like celebrating about this bill passing, but I think more people would be extremely mortified about this bill if they knew the facts. The bottom line: higher prices on needs and fewer jobs to make the money.
reede
September 7th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Well, Joyana, that’s pretty much the opposite of what I think is wrong with the bill. The whole point of climate legislation is to raise the price of carbon, which will in turn cause us to turn toward alternate fuel sources as more cost effective. If Waxman-Markey did a better job of increasing the cost of carbon I’d be a happy camper.
- Reede
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