House Passes Historic Climate Change Bill
26 June 2009 7:59 pm by djjl
http://tinyurl.com/laa2ah
After a tense debate, in which the margin of success or failure never moved beyond a handful of votes, the House of Representatives passed the most sweeping climate change policy ever considered by Congress early Friday evening.
The outcome had remained up in the air up until the actual vote, with the White House and the president himself engaging in a heavy lobbying campaign aimed at restoring Democratic Party unity that seemed to be fracturing.
Hoping to stem what seemed increasingly like a Democratic victory, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) deployed an infrequently used parliamentary procedure to delay the bill’s consideration – reading before the House a 300-page amendment that had been offered to the 1,200-page bill Friday morning.
After an hour of reading the text derisively, Boehner finally surrendered the floor. A raucous Democratic caucus quickly asked for vote to be taken, after which it was revealed that the White House and Democratic leadership’s efforts had paid off. The House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 by a vote of 219 to 212. Forty-four Democrats voted against the measure and only eight Republicans yes.
The climate change bill would reset drastically the way the U.S. government approaches the issue of regulating pollution. Instituting a cap and trade system, the bill aims to cut America’s production of greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020, and 83 percent by 2050. The legislation also includes provisions to create alternative energy sources and cleaner technologies, as well as more efficient building standards.
anip
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Meant “snip” – but I may just try “a nip.”
at least we can point to “something” getting done while other issues move back and forth on the the stovetop.
“Forty-four Democrats voted against the measure” Let’s hope 44 primary chalanges are in the works!!
I know the crap I am going to take from secular on this but I don’t care.
This was a piece of shit bill that many diverse groups opposed including environmental groups. The phone systems went down with the volume of calls made to oppose this legislation. Did the House pay attention, and in particulary Ms. Pelosi —— no.
So here we go again – legislation amended at 3:00 in the morning. Sound familiar? A Bill not one rep. read in its entirety —- sound familiar? A Bill not posted on the internet 5 days before a vote as promised by this President and this Speaker of the House —– sound familiar?
If this is how the Dems are going to govern, pass anything just to say they got something done, I say no thanks. It’s undemocratic and wrong. This is not the hope and change I voted for. It’s more of the same old politics.
djjl,
Yawn, call me when this passes the Senate. I smell a Elephant filibuster and a cave by the human jelly-fish from the Great Salt Lake–Harry Reid.