Climate Change

A Real Circulation Problem

02 Dec 2009

Posted by Andrew Samwick

New research from the University of Saskatchewan indicates that the doomsday scenario in The Day After Tomorrow is not as farfetched as it might have seemed initially. But it was still a lousy movie.

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Climate Change

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President Obama Goes to Copenhagen -- What Should He Pack?

28 Nov 2009

Posted by Andrew Samwick

Ideally, a menu and some cash. Let me explain. When President Obama travels next month to receive his Nobel Prize, he will stop first in Copenhagen at the international climate change meetings. This article in The New York Times on Wednesday and yesterday’s discussion on its Room for Debate blog prompted two reactions.

First, the House but not the Senate has signed off on emission targets that enable the President “tell the delegates that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions ‘in the range of’ 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.” This leaves the President in a weak position in Copenhagen, having to essentially charm the other nations that he can get the Senate on board when he returns, despite any credible evidence that the Senate will do so.

When I think about how a country that aspires to be world leader should send its President into international diplomacy, I have something very different in mind.

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Climate Change Barely Passed The House. Senate Passage Will Be More Difficult.

01 Jul 2009

Posted by Pete Davis

Friday's razor-thin 219-212 House passage of the Climate Change bill, H.R.2454, was a testament to the dogged persistance of President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As tough as that was, Senate passage will be a lot more difficult.

On April 1, 2009, 26 coal and manufacturing state Democrats joined all 41 Senate Republicans in favor of Senator Mike Johann's (R-NE) amendment to the Budget Resolution, S.Con.Res.13, disallowing the use of "reconciliation" to pass a Climate Change bill. "Reconciliation" would allow passage by a majority vote instead of the 60 votes normally needed to pass major bills. It would also prevent extraneous killer amendments. Some of those 26 Democrats may feel secure enough of their reelection chances to vote in favor of a Climate Change bill this fall, but many won't. That's why I'd be surprised if the Senate can pass a Climate Change bill this year. I could be proven wrong if President Obama can mount enough public pressure on those 26 Senate Democrats to turn them around, but that would be a tall order.

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