Senate Democrats signal climate-change push

Nov. 16, 2006
Three incoming Senate committee chairmen have asked President George W. Bush to commit to working with the new Congress in passing aggressive climate change legislation in 2007.

Nick Snow
Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 -- Three incoming Senate committee chairmen have asked President George W. Bush to commit to working with the new Congress in passing aggressive climate change legislation in 2007.

The recent elections signaled a need to change direction in many areas, including global warming, said Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.).

"If we are to leave our children a world that resembles the earth we inherited, we must act now to address [greenhouse gas] emissions. When the 100th Congress begins in January, we pledge to work to pass an effective system of mandatory limits on greenhouse gases," they wrote in a letter to Bush.

Bingaman will chair the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Boxer the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Lieberman the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee when Democrats take control of the Senate.

They noted that the US is among 189 countries with representatives meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss global warming.

"Unfortunately, we are not satisfied with the level of US participation in the international negotiations and in reducing our own domestic [GHG] emissions. Therefore, as incoming chairs of three important Senate committees on global warming, we seek your commitment to work with the new Congress to pass meaningful climate change legislation in 2007," the senators wrote Bush.

They and other Senate Democrats have repeatedly said the Bush administration and the Republican congressional leadership have not taken climate change seriously.

The three senators said they have written or cosponsored legislation to combat global warming.

"Although our approaches differ slightly, we—along with the overwhelming majority of the scientific community—agree that human-caused global warming is real and that we must pass legislation to address this threat. We are committed to achieving this result," they said.

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