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cali

(114,904 posts)
Sat Apr 13, 2013, 08:10 PM Apr 2013

Lizza: "Obama’s surprising appeal to Congress (on climate change) was an empty piece of rhetoric"

From Ryan Lizza's New Yorker piece.

<snip>

In his three most important speeches of the last year, he promised to confront this threat. In his convention speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, last September, he vowed, “my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet, because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They are a threat to our children’s future.”

<snip>

But the budget released this week makes it clear that Ohttp://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/04/climate-change-out-of-obama-budget.html?mbid=gnep&google_editors_picks=trueThe phrase “climate change” appears twenty-nine times in the new budget, but there is no new plan for Congress to take up in Obama’s otherwise ambitious legislative blueprint. There are some worthy energy initiatives that could achieve modest reductions in emissions, but the budget is silent on what Obama will do to aggressively reduce carbon pollution by the biggest emitters, like power plants and automobiles.

It is not as if Obama doesn’t have the power to act. On many issues the President is at the mercy of Congress. He can’t reform gun laws or the immigration system, or rewrite the tax code, without coöperation from the House and Senate. Climate change is different. Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency, backed by the force of a Supreme Court ruling, has the authority to reduce carbon pollution through regulation. In 2010, when White House negotiators were trying to pass cap and trade, they presented reluctant senators with a promise (some called it a threat): pass a comprehensive bill to deal with the problem or the E.P.A. would move forward on its own. Three years later, the Administration has still not acted on that ultimatum. And, ominously for those who care about tackling climate change, Obama’s new budget proposes to reduce funding for the E.P.A. by 3.5 per cent compared to the current year.

<snip>
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/04/climate-change-out-of-obama-budget.html?mbid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true

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Lizza: "Obama’s surprising appeal to Congress (on climate change) was an empty piece of rhetoric" (Original Post) cali Apr 2013 OP
And the hits keep coming... nt MannyGoldstein Apr 2013 #1
I don't think ProSense Apr 2013 #2

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
2. I don't think
Sat Apr 13, 2013, 11:09 PM
Apr 2013
In his State of the Union, Obama renewed his 2010 threat. “If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations,” he said, “I will.” Nothing in his new budget follows through on that promise. And if that doesn’t, what will?

...when the President said that, he meant that Congress would act via the budget. The President's budget addresses certain issues, and he can act on his own on some issues.

Statements On Obama Budget From NRDC, CAP, & SEIA
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/11/statements-on-obama-budget-from-nrdc-cap-seia/

Obama Will Use Nixon-Era Law to Fight Climate Change
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022512709

New EPA Rules Would Make Your Car Run Better And Cleaner
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022593375

Senate bill: Sanders-Boxer climate protection bill includes carbon fee for nearly 3,000 top fossil fuel polluters
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022374998
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