Obstructionists End Senate Action on Global Warming

Media Contacts
Nathan Willcox

Environment America

The Senate voted 48-36 this morning to move forward on the Climate Security Act (S. 3036), falling short of the necessary 60-vote threshold and causing consideration of the bill to end without any substantive votes on the measure. An additional 6 senators, who missed the vote, submitted statements indicating that they would have voted to move forward had they been present.

The inconvenient truth is that the Republican leadership is too captive to the polluters to confront global warming.  Today’s action by the U.S. Senate makes the cowardly lion seem courageous.  Faced with an urgent problem that demands action, the Senate passed the buck. 

Global warming is the defining challenge of our time.  Scientists warn that if we don’t act quickly and boldly to reduce our emissions of global warming pollution, the United States and the world risk devastating damage to our environment, economy, and way of life.

The United States must commit to the emission reductions science tells us are necessary, make polluters pay for their pollution, and aggressively promote the energy efficiency and renewable energy infrastructure that will enable us to transition to a clean energy economy.

The solutions exist today that can get us much of the way there.  And states across the country are already making these solutions a reality.

Unfortunately, the Senate Republican leadership, backed by Big Oil and coal and a presidential veto threat, made clear this week that they are intent on blocking action on global warming.  At every turn, they used procedural maneuvers to obstruct consideration of the bill.

Next time around, the polluters and their allies in Congress won’t get off so easy.  In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll educate and mobilize the American public on the urgent need for action to stop the worst effects of global warming and the many opportunities inherent in a massive transition to a clean energy economy, helping to pave the way for stronger legislation next year that will get the job done.