Earth Equity News

Kerry Takes on Leading Role in Senate in Passing Climate Bill. By Darren Samuelsohn, ClimateWire, July 28, 2009. "Sen. John Kerry sounds like a different kind of campaigner these days. Five years after his White House bid fell short by 20 electoral college votes, the Massachusetts Democrat has emerged as one of his party's leading voices in trying to win passage of a major global warming and energy bill. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry brings perhaps the best insight of any lawmaker on Capitol Hill when it comes to the interplay between U.S. politics and the diplomacy surrounding a new international climate deal... The Foreign Relations Committee is one of six panels that will be writing a section of the climate bill expected on the Senate floor this fall. Kerry has throw himself into the role of chairman, which became available when Joe Biden left the Senate to become vice president. Since May, Kerry has held about 25 one-on-one meetings with senators on the climate issue. He has also had sit downs with dozens more foreign and administration officials, including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and British Foreign Secretary David Milliband. Kerry hosted a March strategy dinner at his home in Georgetown that included Carol Browner, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and White House science and technology adviser John Holdren... 'I think the House bill is actually a very good bill, a very strong bill, enormous positive assets, and there may be one, several things we feel we can tweak, make stronger,' he said." (Editor's Note: The senator and his staff have been unresponsive to CCC and allies wishing to discuss alternatives to cap-and-trade.)