Statements On Obama Budget From NRDC, CAP, & SEIA

[ProSense]

Statements On Obama Budget From NRDC, CAP, & SEIA

Zachary Shahan

<...>

From Franz Matzner, associate director of government affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):

“President Obama’s budget once again calls for eliminating billions of dollars in taxpayer handouts to the dirty energy industry of the past, which it doesn’t need, and harms our health and planet. Looking to a clean energy future, his budget expands investments in wind and solar that will create jobs and grow our made-in-America-energy.

“Together, ending oil subsidies and boosting clean energy are important steps that will help address the destructive impacts we’re seeing from climate change.”

From Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA):

“America’s solar industry welcomes President Obama’s continued support. We praise the President for emphasizing that a transition to sustainable energy sources is vital—and that the U.S. must lead it. Solar is the fastest-growing clean energy technology available today. It is not only powering our nation, it is an engine of economic growth. The number of U.S. solar jobs has jumped 13.2 percent in the last year alone, and doubled over the last three years.

<...>

From Daniel J. Weiss, Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy at the Center for American Progress:

President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2014 would eliminate $39 billion of special tax breaks for Big Oil companies over the next decade as part of comprehensive business tax reform. These companies earned billions of dollars in recent years due to high oil and gasoline prices and do not need additional support from taxpayers.

- more -

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

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. Great. Obama can blame himself that these positive measures are being overshadowed

by his ham fisted proposal to move Social Security to the Chained CPI. If Americans no longer react to suggestions that Social Security be cut like that is equivalent to touching the third rail in politics, it will no longer be equivalent to touching the third rail in politics. The Democratic Party can not be identified with that change and now it will be if it is not firmly and loudly rejected. Obama is a major national politician. He should have known this was coming. He will now have to trumpet his environmental creds in some other slower news month

[99Forever]

2. That the...

... sycophants are desperate to change the subject, really betrays how large of a blunder Obama's kissing up to the 1% is.

[ProSense]

4. Clearly

"That the sycophants are desperate to change the subject, really betrays how large of a blunder Obama's kissing up to the 1% is."

...you're superior to the "sycophants" in every way. Your insults are changing the world for the better.

Changing the subject: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022669897

[99Forever]

6. There's one now!

[ProSense]

11. The OP statements are really upsetting, huh?

Damn positive crap!

[Kolesar]

5. that was incomprehensible. eom

[99Forever]

8. Reading is...

... fundamental.

[Kolesar]

9. Writing is ... lacking

[99Forever]

10. I'm not responsible for your...

.. lack of cognitive ability. I would however, suggest further education might help.

[Kolesar]

14. I get paid $8100/month to write international trade compliance reports

Q.E.D.

[99Forever]

15. Of course you do!

[Kolesar]

16. For another two years

My wife and I have a huge portfolio and are going to retire and ski in the Sierras. Our investments accrued $100,000 this year, with $20,000 of that as savings.

[99Forever]

17. And I'll bet you have movie star looks...

... the singing voice of an angel too. Internet bragging is so damn believable!

[Kolesar]

18. Fascinating life you live

Have fun on your internet day.

[99Forever]

20. I'm not the one bragging about my "huge income"...

... "on the internet," am I?

Physician, heal thyself.

[Logical]

24. LOL, really? Then maybe the issue is you! n-t

[ProSense]

3. Well,

"Great. Obama can blame himself that these positive measures are being overshadowed by his ham fisted proposal to move Social Security to the Chained CPI."

...at least some people are taking note, and the good thing is that these are the people most likely to push these measures.

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. I agree we should take note of them. And support them. It is good. n/t

[Kolesar]

7. I can blame you for trying to hijack this thread...eom

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. If you insist

But I did start out my post with a positive acknowledgment that what was being praised was indeed praiseworthy. It is. There is some good environmental stuff in Obama's budget proposal. Honest there is, no sarcasm intended with that statement. Is that better?

[Kolesar]

19. Not interesting enough to go back for another look

You, too, have a nice day on the internet.

[Logical]

25. LOL, so perfectly countering a OP is hijacking a thread now. Welcome to thew new DU! n-t

[Logical]

23. Wow, +1000! n-t

[Marr]

21. Now wait a minute. Are the proposals just empty rope-a-doping because 'they'll never pass' or not?

It seems like you want it both ways here. You want to talk up a few positive points, and shrug off a massive, negative one.

[ProSense]

22. Nope

"Now wait a minute. Are the proposals just empty rope-a-doping because 'they'll never pass' or not? It seems like you want it both ways here. You want to talk up a few positive points, and shrug off a massive, negative one."

The "massive, negative one" will never pass because House Republicans don't want to own that vote (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022655701) and it has no chance in the Senate.

As for the rest, Congress usually takes the President's budget and use it as a basis for the spending bill.

2012 United States federal budget

The 2012 United States federal budget was the budget to fund government operations for the fiscal year 2012, which is October 2011–September 2012. The original spending request was issued by President Barack Obama in February 2011. That April, the Republican-held House of Representatives announced a competing plan, The Path to Prosperity, emboldened by a major victory in the 2010 Congressional elections associated with the Tea Party movement. The budget plans were both intended to focus on deficit reduction, but differed in their changes to taxation, entitlement programs, defense spending, and research funding.[2][3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_federal_budget

2011 United States federal budget

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President Barack Obama proposed his 2011 budget during February 2010. He has indicated that jobs, health care, clean energy, education, and infrastructure will be priorities. Total requested spending is $3.83 trillion and the federal deficit is forecast to be $1.56 trillion in 2010 and $1.27 trillion in 2011. Total debt is budgeted to increase from $11.9 trillion in FY2009, to $13.8 trillion in FY2010, and $15.1 trillion in FY2011.[6][7]

It was widely anticipated that a government shutdown on April 8, 2011 was possible if a budget resolution or a seventh continuing resolution was not passed by the expiration of the sixth continuing resolution on April 8, 2011,[8] which would have caused the furlough of 800,000 out of 2 million civilian federal employees.[9][10] However, a deal was reached with just hours remaining before the deadline, averting the shutdown. The deal included $38.5 billion in cuts from what had been budgeted for 2010, in addition to another $10 billion in cuts that had been imposed in some of the continuing resolutions.[11][12] However, the April 13 Congressional Budget Office estimate showed that, compared with then-current spending rates, the spending bill would cut federal outlays from non-war accounts by just $352 million through Sept. 30. About $8 billion in immediate cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid were offset by nearly equal increases in defense spending.[13]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_States_federal_budget#History

[Marr]

27. It's easy to say "nope", but it looks like the answer is really, "yep".

You're highlighting items that will make good PR, and dismissing the disastrous one. Nothing you posted there supported your argument.

[ProSense]

29. Sure it did

It's easy to say "nope", but it looks like the answer is really, "yep". You're highlighting items that will make good PR, and dismissing the disastrous one. Nothing you posted there supported your argument.

House Republicans don't want to own the vote on the "massive, negative one" and Senate Democrats do not support it.

It will be rejected. They will pass a spending bill based on the President's request, tweaking it to within range of the budget request. If they pull a proposal, they'll either substitute the cuts or leave them out.

It's a simple concept: They'll debate, tweak and pass the something close to the President's budget.

[DemocraticProse]

26. I agree with you ProSense!

According to the posters above I can get paid to have common sense.

Should I let you know where to send the check?!

[ProSense]

32. Welcome to DU

"I agree with you ProSense!"

...and the minority.

[bowens43]

28. None of this makes up for Obama's attacks on Social Security

If dismantling Social Security (and that seems to be on Obama's radar), is the price , it's not worth it.....

[whatchamacallit]

30. A Spoon Full of Sugar

http://m.

&feature=related

[ProSense]

31. Actually

"A Spoon Full of Sugar"

...several spoons: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022670043

[ProSense]

33. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Leaves a Legacy...

Of course, she accomplished these things despite Obama's secretly undermining her, according to some. This is the Obama administration legacy. Posting to add another "spoon of sugar" to the thread.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Leaves a Legacy of Cleaner Air, Safer Water, and More Stable Climate

<...>

By honoring the law and protecting the health of ordinary people, Jackson showed us that sound government leadership makes our nation stronger and more vibrant. I am sorry to see her leave the Obama administration, but I know her accomplishments will live on in the form of cleaner air, safer drinking water, and a more stable climate.

The first-ever national standards to limit mercury and other dangerous emissions from power plants, for instance, will save up to 11,000 American lives every year. They will also prevent nearly 5,000 heart attacks annually and protect children from neurological damage. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that damages developing brains in children and fetuses, yet power plants have been resisting mercury rules for decades—even as every other major industrial sector in America already started reducing their mercury pollution. Jackson knew it was time for power plants to clean up their act, and she established strong standards that will finally prompt them to do so.

As the mother of a boy who suffers from asthma, Jackson has been a fierce champion of the Clean Air Act. But she has also pushed to make our nation’s waterways cleaner. She laid out the first comprehensive plan for saving the Chesapeake Bay from pollution that is literally choking the life out of the largest estuary in our country. She protected Appalachian streams from devastation by rejecting the Spruce No. 1 Mine—the largest mountaintop removal coal operation proposed in West Virginia—plan to dump rubble, coal dust, selenium, and other toxic pollution into the region’s waterways. And she worked tirelessly throughout the BP oil disaster to reassure Gulf residents that the administration would restore this national treasure.

But perhaps Jackson’s most far-reaching achievement is her leadership on climate change. She oversaw the EPA’s determination that carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases endanger human health and well-being. Following four decades of Clean Air Act precedent, the EPA used that determination as the basis to begin reducing carbon pollution.

- more -

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/epa_administrator_lisa_jackson.html

Lisa Jackson to Leave EPA: Earthjustice Statement

Statement from Earthjustice Vice President of Litigation Patti Goldman:

“America owes Lisa Jackson a debt of gratitude for her work to protect the public's health from polluters and their allies in Congress. For her efforts to clean up pollution and better protect the environment and public health, she faced a steady barrage from members of Congress and the industrial polluters who back them. Her detractors are the same people who told us taking lead out of gasoline in the 1970's would break the economy and that taking acid out of acid rain in the 1990's would ruin the country. In both cases, the environment and economy were strengthened and this is the approach Lisa Jackson took. There is a lot of unfinished business started by Jackson that the next EPA director will need to attend to. Whoever it is, they'll need the support of the President and they'll need to be ready for a non-stop barrage of attacks from the chemical, industrial and fossil fuel industries and their allies in Congress.

“After 17 years of Earthjustice litigation it was Lisa Jackson who finally regulated mercury and other toxic pollutants coming from power plants. After a decade of litigation from Earthjustice and others, it was Lisa Jackson who supported and implemented regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gases. After more than a decade of Earthjustice litigation it was Lisa Jackson who finally implemented the first regulation of mercury from cement kilns all over the country.”

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2012/lisa-jackson-to-leave-epa-earthjustice-statement

Here's a few of the accomplishments...
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1174138/48873639#c4