WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today will file an amendment that would put the Senate on record acknowledging that climate change is being caused by humans and is a major threat to the planet.
Sanders plans to offer the amendment to a bill that would force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. The controversial project would ship oil from Canada’s tar sands region in Alberta to refineries in Texas along the Gulf of Mexico.
“The American people need to know whether Congress is listening to the overwhelming majority of scientists when it comes to climate change,” Sanders said.
“On this issue, the scientists have been virtually unanimous in saying that climate change is real, it is caused by human action, it is already causing devastating problems which will only get worse in the future and that we need to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel. Do members of Congress believe the scientists or not?” the senator asked.
Sanders has argued against construction of the pipeline because it would promote greater exploitation of some of the dirtiest oil on the planet and increase greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
To read the amendment, click here.
Contact: Michael Briggs (202) 224-5141
The sense of Congress that Congress agrees….
Serious issue, of course, but there is some humor in the way Sanders is handling this politically.
He is going to make everyone who wants the Keystone pipeline must vote to agree or disagree that climate change is a real problem. Here’s the text of the amendment:
“It is the sense of Congress that Congress is in agreement with the opinion of virtually the entire worldwide scientific community that—
(1) climate change is real;
(2) climate change is caused by human activities;
(3) climate change has already caused devastating problems in the United States and around the world;
(4) a brief window of opportunity exists before the United States and the entire planet suffer irreparable harm; and
(5) it is imperative that the United States transform its energy system away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and sustainable energy as rapidly as possible”
Interesting strategy, and if it happens it will put Senators on record one way or another.
Illogical fallacy
I wouldn’t quite say, it’s ‘fun’ to speculate what’s up with this, but it is curious. My hunch is that the amendment is a baiting tactic, along the lines of ‘when did you stop beating your wife”. Bernie knows the majority are in denial or co-opted vis a vis climate change. He’s gambling they won’t want to go on record as regressives, and this will slow the wheels on the KXL bill.
But the problem is that they could vote down the amendment on the terms that it is a trap, and then pass the KXL bill, knowing Obama will veto. End result, head-in-sand Congress keeps on its wayward course, Bernie gets neither satisfaction for outing trogs, nor traction against climate change.
Worse case scenario, the abstainers switch, and there are actually enough votes to overturn the threatened Veto. However it goes, it must give Bernie the heebie- jeebies to be surrounded by medieval mind-sets.
Easy as ABC
It is a bit like failing to pass an amendment to state the obvious:
“Congress resolves and recognizes that the alphabet begins with A and continues, using 26 letters, to Z.”
Fails to pass, 213-198.
I do think he is baiting others, and it’s probably the most one can do at the moment.
periodic table of idiots
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=1&vote=00016
tabled…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/us/politics/senate-rejects-human-role-in-climate-change.html?_r=1