Great job by Miles over at Daily Kos, where he's busy live blogging the U.S. House of Representatives debate on the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act. A few interesting updates:UPDATE by Lowell 7:15 pm: ACES passes 219-212!!!
7:01pm -- GOP substitute goes down, now voting on ACES!
UPDATE by Lowell: ABC Nightly News has all Michael Jackson, all the time, except for a bit about Mark Sanford. No Iran, no cap and trade, no "news" in other words. That's your corporate media 4U, what a pathetic joke.
6:40pm -- House finally voting on something! First, the vote on the GOP substitute. Will be final by 6:55pm.
6:33pm -- Anyone else hearing Boehner is trying to push off vote so the major climate action victory won't make East Coast evening newscasts?
UPDATE by Lowell: Is this really John Boehner speaking or is he possessed by Abe Simpson. As in "Dear Mr. President, There are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three. P.S. I am not a crackpot." Or "That doll is EVIL, I tells ya. Evil! Eeeeeeviillll!!!...I just want attention." Or "I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah!"
5:30pm -- Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is delivering the Democratic rebuttal to the Republican substitute. A well-reasoned closing argument for ACES.
5:18pm -- Rep. Michele Bachmann says under ACES, "the federal goverment will have control over virtually every aspect of the lives of the American people." No one brings the crazy like Michele.
4:43pm -- Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) just asked for a moment of silence for all the people who will lose jobs because of ACES. Yes, that just happened.
4:39pm -- WOW. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), who'd been threatening to oppose ACES because it wasn't strong enough, just said he'll vote for the bill. That's huge. Big murmur goes through the NWF conference room...
4:28pm -- Interesting tidbit I just heard from one of our staffers -- pro-ACES calls to members of Congress are close to 100% in-district, while anti-ACES calls to member offices are only about 15% in-district. Basically, it's local clean energy advocates vs. a national Big Oil-funded campaign.
4:15pm -- Here we go, Barton demanding recess. Rep. Markey explaining that any citizen in the entire country can view the bill by navigating through the Series of Tubes to the House website.
3:29pm -- Here's yet another example of Republican intellectual dishonesty on ACES: After listening to Republican after Republican all afternoon claim the bill will send jobs overseas, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) says the bill is protectionist because it has provisions to look out for American industries. Which is it, guys?
3:01pm -- Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY): "When the Republican party becomes the protector of the poor, it's the day I've been waiting for."
2:45pm -- Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) asks "why we'd even consider" changing our energy policies during a recession. Yes, Rep. Cantor. Why would we consider changing the status quo that got us into this mess? Why wouldn't we want more of the same failed dirty energy policies? I feel another segment of Really!?! coming on.
2:43pm -- The Republicans opposing this bill have rolled out a virtual Wikipedia of discredited and debunked "studies" on the impact of climate action.
1:36pm -- Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) points out a Congressional Budget Office analysis shows ACES will cost the average taxpayer less than the cost of a postage stamp per day (and that's before you consider possible savings from efficiency).
1:31pm -- Short version of every Republican so far: "This bill is wrong because it picks winners and losers! If it were up to me, I'd pick (ethanol/nuclear/Big Oil) as a winner." No, they have no idea how they're contradicting themselves.
1:13pm -- From Twitter: @russ_walker Racist, disgraced ex senator from Va. opposes #ACES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cbSKSsN6Zo
1:05pm -- Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) says electricity will remain affordable under ACES and that the economy will continue to grow. Says there will still be a role for coal.
1:01pm -- Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) accuses ACES of picking winners and losers, then calls for subsidies for nuclear power and letting Big Oil drill where ever they want. Gee, wonder which winners and losers Bob would pick if we left it to him?
12:52pm -- Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) opens debate, calling ACES an "enormous jobs bill." Singles out a series of members for their outreach to key constituencies -- Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) for bringing the auto industry on board, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) for his work with power companies (among others, AEP announced support of bill today), Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) for getting the steel industry's support, Ways & Means Chair Charlie Rangel (D-NY) for bringing low income advocates on board, and Agriculture Chair Collin Peterson (D-MN) for his outreach to farmers.
