Perriello: "Until the Senate gets its head out of its rear-end...Our economy is at risk"

I think that Tom Perriello's interview with enviro blog Gristmill should help you all understand why he's my favorite Congressman, by far (not to mention the great work he did on stripping health insurance monopolies of their antitrust protection). Here's an excerpt. Go git'm Tom!

Every week the Senate doesn’t act [on clean energy and climate change legislation], it either freezes that investment and innovation or it sends it overseas. We’re giving up jobs. The Senate—the ridiculous tactics of the Republicans and the timidity of the Democrats—is standing in the way of the kind of job creation we need.

[...]

Keep in mind that cap-and-trade is a Republican idea. It was a good idea when the Republicans came up with it and it continues to be when Democrats support it. It’s a good idea because it uses capitalism to solve a core problem. When Republicans are honest with themselves—many of them come up to me and say, “Look, I’d love to support it, I know this is the right approach, but if I do this I’ll have a primary challenger tomorrow.” That’s not conviction politics. That’s spinelessness. There’s a lot of posturing that goes on up here.

[...]

That’s [stripping "cap-and-trade" out and passing an energy-only bill] more insider baseball crap. I don’t really care. I’m sick of starting with what can we get through the Senate; let’s start with what solves the damn problem. Until the Senate gets its head out of its rear-end and starts to see the crisis we’re in, our country is literally at risk. Our economy is at risk, because these jobs are being created overseas. It should have the same urgency with this problem that it had bailing out Wall Street.

Wow, talk about "conviction politics!" :)

Veterans Kick Off Climate Action Tour

Operation FREE is "A coalition of veterans and national security groups that are combating our reliance on fossil fuels and the major security problems caused by climate change." Today, at the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool, they kicked off a 16-state, 68-event tour of America, in which veterans talk about climate change and national security. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and co-author of the House-passed Waxman-Markey, American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), spoke forcefully about the need for us to kick our oil addiction for national security purposes.

More Jobs. Less Pollution. Greater Security. That pretty much sums it up.

P.S. The tour comes to Charlottesville, Martinsville and Danville on January 16-17.

Obama: Climate/Clean Energy Bill Key to America's Future Success

Now this is how you talk about clean energy and climate change legislation, as the key to America's future success as a nation.

...we have to draw on the same spirit of innovation that's always been central to our success. And that's especially true when it comes to energy. There may be plenty of room for debate as to how we transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels -- we all understand there's no silver bullet to do it. There's going to be a lot of debate about how we move from an economy that's importing oil to one that's exporting clean energy technology; how we harness the innovative potential on display here at MIT to create millions of new jobs; and how we will lead the world to prevent the worst consequences of climate change. There are going to be all sorts of debates, both in the laboratory and on Capitol Hill. But there's no question that we must do all these things.

Countries on every corner of this Earth now recognize that energy supplies are growing scarcer, energy demands are growing larger, and rising energy use imperils the planet we will leave to future generations. And that's why the world is now engaged in a peaceful competition to determine the technologies that will power the 21st century. From China to India, from Japan to Germany, nations everywhere are racing to develop new ways to producing and use energy. The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I am convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation. It's that simple. (Applause.

Applause from me too! Thank you, President Obama.