Broback's Blog

Tim Carney quotes NYT climate-change reporter, Coral Davenport who asserts: “The members know that serious climate change legislation stands no chance of passage in this divided Congress.”

If the congress were not divided, what would happen? In 2009 the Democrats held the majority in the house and senate. Of course, they also held the presidency. What action was taken on this matter which is “the defining issue of our generation”?

In 2009, five bills designed to tax/reduce carbon dioxide emissions were introduced: H.R. 1337, 1760, 2880 and S.R. 2877, 1399.

Only S. 2877 (111th): “Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act” even made it to committee. There it promptly died. There are nine steps a bill needs to take to become law. Only S. 2877 made it past step one.

What else made it as far as step two? How about H.Con.Res. 142, which in 2012 specifically opposed “federal efforts to establish a carbon tax on fuels for electricity and transportation.” It did better than 80 percent of the green tax efforts. Also, it was cosponsored by three Democrats: Nick Rahall, Tim Holden, and Collin Peterson.

It’s the Republicans who are single-handedly holding us back? How about those Democrats who want to get re-elected?