Let The Blathering Begin - Senate To Begin Climate Policy Debate June 2nd - Reuters

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON - The international fight to control climate change heads to a new arena in June when the Senate is to debate a bill that could cut total US global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050.

Environmentalists are supportive but want more in the legislation, the business community questions the economic impact, and the politicians who have shepherded it seem gratified that it has managed to get this far -- even though it is unlikely to become law this year.

"I look upon this piece of legislation as a great big train in the station and we're trying to get it out," Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said after an updated version of the measure was released. Senate debate is set for June 2. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, is the bill's other chief sponsor.

The Bush administration, now in its last months, has consistently opposed an across-the-board cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas emitted by fossil-fueled vehicles and coal-fired industries, as well as by natural sources including human breath.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48511/story.htm

[villager]

1. Hey! They might not just blather! They might dither, too!

n/t

[kestrel91316]

2. Why waste their time? It won't pass, if it did it would be vetoed,

and there's definitely no veto-proof majority.

Let the cities and states handle it - at least they are doing something rather than just talking about it.