Tag Archives: leader

Paul Ryan Votes Against the Debt Ceiling Increase

by KristinaRosenba Posted on February 11, 2014

Mother Jones

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With John Boehner finally crying uncle over the debt ceiling and dumping the whole thing on Democrats, the only suspense left was which members of the Republican leadership would suck it in and vote yes to get the bill over the finish line. Here’s the answer:

Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy voted for the increase. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, on the other hand, voted against the bill.

There you go. Even Eric Cantor gritted his teeth and voted for the increase, but Paul Ryan didn’t. Kinda makes you think he might still be keeping a presidential run in the back of his mind, doesn’t it?

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Paul Ryan Votes Against the Debt Ceiling Increase

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The pope is writing a big green manifesto

by ManieFerrell Posted on January 26, 2014

The pope is writing a big green manifesto

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The first clue that Pope Francis might be a greenie came when he chose to name himself after Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment.

We’ve also learned that he likes riding buses and doesn’t like fracking.

Soon we’ll find out more about his views on environmental protection. The Associated Press reports:

Pope Francis has begun drafting an encyclical on ecology.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the document was still very much in its early stages and that no publication date has been set.

More from Reuters:

Since his election in March, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics has made many appeals in defence of the environment.

His latest on Jan. 14 was in his so-called “state of the world” address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, when he said, “God always forgives, we sometimes forgive, but when nature — creation — is mistreated, she never forgives.”

In a speech about two weeks after his election on March 13, the pope said he had taken his name after St. Francis of Assisi because he “teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another’s detriment.”

If he calls for climate action, Francis will be following in the footsteps of his predecessors. As Susie Cagle explained in Grist last year:

Ex-Pope Benedict XVI, aka Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, used his papal platform to promote social and political action in response to global warming, and even added an electric car to the popemobile fleet. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was also a proponent of climate action. And other Catholic leaders have spoken out about the need for a response to the impending “serious and potentially irreversible” effects of a warmer planet.

Now if Francis would just drop his sexist opposition to birth control and abortion rights (and ditch the homophobia, and crack down on pedophilia …), then we might start liking the guy.

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The pope is writing a big green manifesto

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Pot Grows on Harry Reid

by DallasHargraves Posted on January 17, 2014

Mother Jones

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used to be firmly against legalizing marijuana because of its reputation as a gateway drug. But reputations are just a construct, man. Free your mind.

On Thursday, Reid told the Las Vegas Sun that his views on teenage David Brooks’ favorite baser pleasure have evolved. “If you’d asked me this question a dozen years ago, it would have been easy to answer—I would have said no, because it leads to other stuff, but I can’t say that anymore. I think we need to take a real close look at this. I think that there’s some medical reasons for marijuana.”

Nevada is one of twenty states where medical marijuana is legal, but in September three of its largest cities placed local moratoriums on applications for new dispensaries. Reid’s support could go a long way toward lifting those moratoriums.

Reid, who said he’s never tried marijuana, didn’t go so far as to say that he would endorse full legalization, as in Colorado. (“I don’t know about that. I just think that we need to look at the medical aspects of it.”) But he did acknowledge the neat and groovy point that spending billions of dollars going after pot smokers is irrational. “I guarantee you one thing. We waste a lot of time and law enforcement going after these guys that are smoking marijuana.”

How does this affect you, a (possibly) healthy pot-curious millennial from a state other than Nevada? It doesn’t directly. But it’s yet another sign that the nation’s views towards marijuana may have reached a tipping point. Today, 55 percent of Americans support legalization, up from 43 percent last year, according to CNN/Opinion Research. Colorado and Washington have become the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana, and on Wednesday, New Hampshire’s House of Representatives passed a bill that would see the Granite State become the third. (Though it isn’t expected to survive the Senate.)

So, anyway.

Harry Reid: Hippie.

Marijuana: Likely to be legal in most of the country by 2020.

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Pot Grows on Harry Reid

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The GOP’s Filibuster Freakout: 13 Dramatic Reactions From Senate Republicans

by I ambit Posted on November 21, 2013

Mother Jones

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Senate Democrats upended the chamber’s normal procedure Thursday morning, restoring a sense of normalcy to the oft-dysfunctional institution by changing the filibuster rules for confirming judicial and executive-branch nominees. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) turned to the so-called “nuclear option”—a parliamentary trick to write the rules with just 51 votes, rather than the standard two-thirds majority required to change Senate procedures. Clearing a filibuster on those appointees will no longer take a 60-vote supermajority, and President Barack Obama’s judges and White House staff can now be approved by a simple up-or-down vote.

It’s not an outrageous concept. Senate rules were changed regularly under these basic-majority votes when the late Robert Byrd of West Virginia was majority leader in the 1970s. Yet on Thursday, Republicans acted as if the world had ended and democracy would soon collapse thanks to Reid’s egregious change of the rules. It’s hard to take their doom-and-gloom predictions too seriously. Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were amped to end filibusters of judicial nominations in 2005 until Democrats caved and cut a deal.

Here’s a sample of the some of the most hyperbolic Republican reactions to filibuster reform:

1. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on the Senate floor:

“He Harry Reid is not a dictator. He does not have the power to dictate how this Senate operates.”

2. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.):

3. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on CNN:

“What we really need is an anti-bullying ordinance in the Senate. I mean, now we’ve got a big bully. Harry Reid says he’s just gonna break the rules and make new rules.”

4. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.):

“They’re governed by the newer members…who have never been in a minority, who are primarily driving this issue. They succeeded and they will pay a very, very heavy price for it.”

5. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.):

6. Sen. Alexander, again, this time on the floor of the Senate:

“This action today creates a perpetual opportunity for the tyranny of the majority because it permits a majority in this body to do whatever it wants to do any time it wants to do it. This should be called Obamacare II, because it is another example of the use of raw partisan political party for the majority to do whatever it wants to do any time it wants to do it.”

7. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on his Facebook page:

“Rather than fix the Obamacare disaster, today Harry Reid doubled down on the brass knuckles partisan power politics that produced it—jam it through, no compromise, unilaterally make up new rules whenever needed. This isn’t just a shame for the Senate; it’s scary and dictatorial for our country.”

8. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.):

9. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) right before the nuclear-option vote:

“Just yesterday, I saw a story about a guy getting a letter in the mail saying his dog, his dog had qualified for insurance under Obamacare. So yeah, I would probably be running for the exit, too, if I had supported this law. I would be looking to change the subject, change the subject just as Senate Democrats have been doing with their threats of going nuclear and changing the Senate rules on nominations.”

10. Sen. Dan Coates (R-Ind.) on his Facebook page:

“This action to change the Senate rules and weaken the Founding Fathers’ vision for checks and balances is yet another disturbing power grab and reminds the public of how the Democrats jammed through the unwanted health care law.”

11. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.):

“The Democrats’ vote to invoke the ‘nuclear option’ and fundamentally change the rules of the Senate is a raw power grab which is deeply disappointing. Like the manner in which they rammed through Obamacare on party line votes, they have now broken the rules of the Senate to allow them to do the same for the president’s executive and judicial nominees.”

12. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.):

13. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa):

“The silver lining is that there will come a day when roles are reversed. When that happens, our side will likely nominate and confirm lower court and Supreme Court nominees with 51 votes regardless of whether the Democrats actually buy into this fanciful notion that they can demolish the filibuster on lower court nominees and still preserve it for Supreme Court.”

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The GOP’s Filibuster Freakout: 13 Dramatic Reactions From Senate Republicans

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Senate Dems Just Went Nuclear and Changed the Filibuster. Here’s Why.

by BroderickDuong Posted on November 21, 2013

Mother Jones

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats changed the Senate’s rules Thursday, freeing President Barack Obama to staff his administration with the people he wants and fill the federal bench with judges of his choosing.

There are 100 senators, and winning a simple majority (51 senators, or 50 if the vice president votes to break a tie) was once sufficient to confirm presidential nominees and pass legislation. But over the past several decades, both parties have increasingly used the filibuster—a procedural move that requires 60 senators to end debate and force a vote—to block the other side’s agenda. Since 2009, when Obama took office, Senate Republicans have used constant filibuster threats to force Democrats to win 60 votes to do almost anything. On Thursday, Democrats finally decided they’d had enough, and changed the rules. In the future, executive-branch and judicial nominees will be subject to simple up-or-down majority votes. But the filibuster lives on partially: Legislation and Supreme Court nominees will still be subject to filibusters.

The filibuster has bedeviled Democrats ever since Obama took office. A world without the filibuster would include major pieces of progressive legislation: The Affordable Care Act would have a single-payer option, the stimulus act would have been much larger, and gun control would have passed the Senate. The Senate might have even managed to pass a version of a cap-and-trade climate change mitigation bill in 2010 if it hadn’t been for the filibuster. Despite this constant obstruction, Democrats were timid, afraid to upend Senate tradition.

Then, over the past several months, a fight over nominees to a little-known but influential court pushed Reid to finally change the rules.

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Senate Dems Just Went Nuclear and Changed the Filibuster. Here’s Why.

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Schools install pricey filters to protect kids from frac sand

by Cosetta Shallenberger Posted on November 5, 2013

Schools install pricey filters to protect kids from frac sand

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Kids should play in sand, not breathe it in.

Wisconsin’s New Auburn school district is upgrading air filters to prevent sand fragments from floating in from nearby frac-sand mines and getting into children’s lungs.

Much of the sand in the state is perfectly suited to be mixed with water and chemicals and used in fracking operations, where it holds open fractures in shale and allows gas and oil to escape. That’s fueling a $1-billion-a-year sand-mining boom, which is bringing notable environmental and health risks to the state.

The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reports:

Four sand mines operate within a few miles of the school, with the closest less than a half-mile away.

As the number of sand mines near New Auburn and in Chippewa County has increased in the past couple of years, school district officials decided to see whether sand was getting into the building’s air system.

“We took dust scrapings off the filter and sent it to a lab in Madison,” [Superintendent Brian] Henning said. “There was a small percentage of silica on those filters.”

A recent test revealed a small amount of sand in the filters. While district officials hoped no sand would be in the filters, they’re grateful the filters are doing their job, Henning said.

Many municipalities in the state regulate sand-mining operations, and some ban them. But a bill in the Wisconsin legislature, Senate Bill 349 [PDF], could prevent local governments from imposing their own controls on the industry. That could lead to the expansion of existing mines and the opening of new ones, regardless of objections from locals.

“Think of the areas that are susceptible to frac-sand mining right now,” Dane County Executive Joe Parisi recently told the Wisconsin State Journal. “[The towns of] Berry and Cross Plains, a beautiful part of our county. And there could be virtually unregulated mining in those areas and we could not do anything about it.”


Source
Bill could open frac sand floodgates in Dane County, officials warn, Wisconsin State Journal
New Auburn schools invest in air filters to stop sand particles from circulating, Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Schools install pricey filters to protect kids from frac sand

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Coal-plant owner offers to wash cars after spewing ash over city

by pwbqczv Posted on October 25, 2013

Coal-plant owner offers to wash cars after spewing ash over city

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This was not a good week to be a neighbor of the John Twitty Energy Center in Springfield, Mo. Unless, that is, all you care about is getting your car cleaned for free.

A piece of equipment at a coal-fired power plant failed on Tuesday, sending a cloud of burned coal residue with the consistency of talcum powder out over the city. Homes, yards, cars, and unfortunate pedestrians within two to three miles were left coated with fly ash.

“I headed outside and [my cars] were just covered,” Springfield resident Bob Pasley told Ozarks First. “Neighbors’ cars were covered and we were walking through the grass and dust was coming up like you just put limestone on your lawn.”

City Utilities, which operates the plant, apologized and offered to pay to clean the cars of affected neighbors. “Our concern is on people’s vehicles,” spokesperson Joel Alexander said.

But what about all the lungs, plants, and ecosystems that were assaulted with stray bits of burned of coal? What does City Utilities propose doing about that? It’s already done all that it plans to do: It has denied that there are any dangers.

The dust “is not hazardous to people, animals, or vegetation and can be rinsed with water from most surfaces,” the utility said in a statement.

But that claim isn’t sitting so well with environmentalists. From the Springfield News-Leader:

John Hickey, the director of the Sierra Club’s Missouri chapter, took issue with that statement Wednesday, saying CU “has exposed people to a dangerous pollutant.”

“City Utilities said it’s harmless but the thing is, fly ash contains heavy metal pollution like mercury and arsenic. It’s not harmless. It has dangerous pollution in it,” Hickey said.

Asked to respond to Hickey’s criticism, CU sent an email Wednesday noting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued regulatory determinations in 1993 and 2000 that “did not identify any environmental harm associated with the beneficial use of (coal ash) and concluded in both determinations that these materials were nonhazardous.”

OK, great. But “beneficial use” refers to recycling coal ash, such as in concrete and asphalt. Blowing coal ash all over the place for your neighbors to inhale does not count as a beneficial use of the waste material.


Source
City Utilities Provides Free Car Washes for Victims of Energy Plant Malfunction, Ozarks First
Sierra Club, CU disagree on health risk from fly ash, Springfield News-Leader

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Coal-plant owner offers to wash cars after spewing ash over city

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Senate stupidity stalls action on bipartisan energy-efficiency bill

by celicjusz Posted on September 13, 2013

Senate stupidity stalls action on bipartisan energy-efficiency bill

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Capitol Hill, where nothing worthwhile gets done anymore.

Until this week, it appeared that Congress might actually pass a constructive bill — its first meaningful energy legislation in six years.

The bipartisan Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act enjoys support from big business groups and environmentalists alike, and it promises to reduce the nation’s energy costs by as much as $4 billion by 2020.

If it becomes law, the bill would strengthen building codes, create energy-efficiency training programs, mandate energy-efficiency programs for the federal government, and help the private sector reduce its energy costs. Those measures and more would reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change.

A Senate vote on the bill had been expected on Thursday. Then reality struck and inevitable D.C. stupidity rose like a turd in a bathtub.

Eying an opportunity to grandstand, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday filed an amendment to the energy bill that would delay implementation of parts of Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

Then Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) held up passage of the bill on Thursday, demanding that a vote on another Obamacare-related amendment be cast before anybody could vote on the energy bill. And Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) filed two amendments to the energy bill: one to block the EPA from issuing carbon emission rules for power plants, a second to block the federal government from considering the social cost of carbon when it crafts regulations. And Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) wants to add an amendment that would approve Keystone XL. From Politico:

The predicament is exactly what the energy bill’s sponsors, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), had tried for months to avoid. They spent much of the summer trying to ensure that their widely supported bill wouldn’t become hostage to divisive amendments on topics like Keystone and EPA regulations.

We’ll let you know how this tangled mess unfolds.


Source
Obamacare, Keystone collide in Senate energy fight, Politico

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Senate stupidity stalls action on bipartisan energy-efficiency bill

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Harry Reid blames climate change for fires ravaging his state

by Aale Thomas Posted on July 19, 2013

Harry Reid blames climate change for fires ravaging his state

By John Upton

Center for American Progress

Give ‘em hell, Harry!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has no doubt about what’s causing this summer’s disastrous Western fire season: climate change.

During a meeting with reporters this week, Reid linked global warming to a 28,000-acre blaze in Nevada that caused hundreds to be evacuated from their homes. After being mocked by conservative media, he doubled down and made his points again in front of a group of reporters.

Steve Dunleavy

This month’s Bison Fire burning in Carson Valley, Nev.

“The West is being devastated by wildfires. Millions of acres are burning. Millions of acres have burned,” Reid said on Thursday. “Why? Because the climate has changed. The winters are shorter; the summers are hotter; the moisture patterns have changed.”

Asked by a reporter what needs to be done, Reid said, “Talk about climate change as if it really exists, not beat around the bush.”

He also called for more federal spending to prevent wildfires.

Watch the video:

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Harry Reid blames climate change for fires ravaging his state

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Connecticut will label GMOs if you do too

by Edbre23ne Posted on June 4, 2013

Connecticut will label GMOs if you do too

By Claire Thompson

CT Senate Democrats

Connecticut is poised to become the first state to require labeling of genetically engineered food — in theory, at least.

On Monday, the state House of Representatives passed an amended version of a labeling bill that the state Senate approved two weeks ago, and Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) has said he’ll sign it. The bipartisan bill passed unanimously in the Senate and 134-to-3 in the House, with little debate in either chamber — a major contrast to California’s contentious GMO-labeling ballot initiative that ultimately failed last year. Differences between the two states aside, it goes to show you how much more difficult passing such progressive measures becomes once corporate money and gullible voters are involved.

The Hartford Courant’s political blog reports that “Immediately after the vote, cheers could be heard outside the Hall of the House from advocates who had been pushing the labeling requirement.” The bill’s success is certainly an important victory for the GMO-labeling movement, which seems to have been motivated, not discouraged, by last year’s loss in California. Thirty-seven labeling proposals have been introduced in 21 states so far this year.

But the final version of the Connecticut bill includes quite a crucial catch: The labeling requirement won’t actually go into effect until similar legislation is passed by at least four other states, one of which borders Connecticut. Also, the labeling adopters must include Northeast states with an aggregate population of at least 20 million. So if, say, New York passed a labeling law, that would help a lot, as New York borders Connecticut and has a population of 19.5 million, which, combined with Connecticut’s 3.5 million, easily passes the population target.

This “trigger clause” is meant to allay fears that Connecticut could suffer negative economic impacts by going it alone — higher food prices and lawsuits from major food companies. Lawmakers are counting on safety in numbers, and hoping their state’s precedent will encourage others to follow suit. The Connecticut Post reports:

“Somebody has to go first and say it’s OK to do it with some kind of trigger,” [Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield)] said. “This gives great momentum for advocates in Pennsylvania and New York, for example, for GMO labeling, because if they’re successful in New York we’ll probably see it along the entire East Coast.”

OK, Pennsylvania, New York, and all those other states considering GMO labeling: It’s on you now.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

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