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A Time to Take Action:

Senate to consider climate change bill

[6-2-08]

From Witness in Washington Weekly, published by the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), June 2, 2008

The Senate returns from the Memorial Day recess scheduled to take up the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, S. 2191. As described in the Witness in Washington Weekly on May 19, 2008, this bill is far from the perfect solution to global climate change, but it is a huge step in the right direction, and a chance to get Senators on record on a vital issue.

On May 21, Senators Boxer (D-CA), Lieberman (I-CT) and Warner (R-CT) released the "Manager's Amendment." A privilege of the chairperson of the committee of jurisdiction is to supply replacement language to a bill, as the bill's "manager," and with input from the bill's sponsors, Senator Boxer has crafted some new language. The Manager's Amendment will essentially be offered as a substitute for certain parts of the bill that came out of the committee before Christmas, and some of it is better than others. Overall, however, the bill needs to be strengthened, particularly with respect to reducing carbon emissions and supporting people living in poverty, who will suffer the most from the effects of climate change and the resulting increased costs in energy.

The Presbyterian Washington Office has been working with our ecumenical and interfaith colleagues for some time to try to strengthen this bill. We have developed the following talking points:

Stronger Emissions Reductions: To avert the catastrophic effects of global climate change, we must prevent the earth's temperature from rising two degrees C. This means, according to the world's leading climate scientists, that we must reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.

	The Lieberman-Warner bill does not target the necessary emissions reductions to ensure that we are able to prevent catastrophic climate change.
	We want to ensure that we start down the right path and should work for 15-20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 and 80% by 2050, as recommended by the broader scientific community.
	It's important for the Senate to continue to be mindful of the recommendations of the scientific community in efforts to prevent catastrophic climate change, to support efforts to strengthen emissions reductions and to vehemently oppose safety valve mechanisms that weaken the reductions.

Support those living in poverty in the U.S.: We know that climate change will hit those living in poverty hardest (in the U.S. and around the world), especially if we do nothing to prevent it.

	Climate change legislation will result in increased prices, which will strain the budgets of already over-stretched low-income families.
	The Lieberman-Warner bill includes financial assistance for those living in poverty, who will face an increase in the cost of living due to climate legislation, but it does not use efficient mechanisms for delivery of assistance.
	The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has developed a mechanism that would provide financial assistance to those living in poverty in an effective and flexible manner. Read the Center's analysis http://www.cbpp.org/pubs/climate.htm.
	The Center's proposal is efficient and reaches many more poor families than the current mechanism in the bill - we seek ways to incorporate this into the Lieberman-Warner bill.

International Climate Justice: Subsistence farmers and people living around the world on less than $2 a day will be most severely impacted by climate change due to famine and drought, as crop yields drop due to more extreme weather systems, lack of water for irrigation and drinking, and the other severe events that already plague the developing world disproportionately increase.

	The current language in the Lieberman-Warner bill provides for people in developing nations and we applaud the Senators for its inclusion in the bill.
	Because the UN Development Program states that climate impacts in developing nations are already $80 billion, more money is needed to assist these communities.
	The Manager's Amendment of the bill included an increase in funding for international development assistance to help poor communities in developing countries. Congress should preserve and adopt this change.

Click http://capwiz.com/pcusa/dbq/officials/ to send an email to your Senators today!

Amendment Alert:

One of the first amendments likely to be considered is from Senators Biden and Lugar expressing the Sense of the Senate that the U.S. should re-engage in international climate negotiations, such as those that produced the Kyoto Protocol and the negotiations that began in Bali in December, 2007. The PC(USA) has called for the U.S. to sign the Kyoto Protocol and/or engage in international climate negotiations five times in the last 20 years (1990, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2006), so Presbyterians are encouraged to urge their Senators to support this amendment, in addition to the above strengthening measures.

General Assembly Guidance:

From "Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice" (1990)

	The PC (USA) declares its serious concern that the global atmospheric warming trend represents one of the most serious global environmental challenges to health, security, and stability of human life and natural ecosystems.
	The United States, as consumer of nearly a quarter of the world's energy, must take the lead in reducing its own combustion of fossil fuels and shifting to renewable sources of energy which do not contribute to the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide.
	The U.S. and other industrialized nations should assist developing countries to achieve the energy sufficiency necessary for the general improvement of living standards that these countries desperately need. This assistance should include appropriate technology transfers for pollution control and energy efficiency.

In 2003, the 215th General Assembly "Called on the United States government to join in the world effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to develop and enact a national emergency response, underwritten by law, with adequate financial support, and economic enforcement mechanisms, to be fully functioning by 2005, with targeted reductions by that time."

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Published by the Witness in Washington Weekly advocacy program of the Washington Office, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 100 Maryland Avenue, NE Washington D.C. 20002, (202) 543-1126 www.pcusa.org/washington . For more information about the content of this article, please email the Washington Office at ga_washington_office@pcusa.org . If you would like to receive this information directly, please go to http://capwiz.com/pcusa/mlm/signup/.