Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Podesta: Congress Can’t Stop Obama On Global Warming




Podesta: Congress Can’t Stop Obama On Global Warming
4:24 PM 05/05/2014
White House adviser John Podesta told reporters Monday afternoon that Congress could not derail the Obama administration’s efforts to unilaterally enact policies to fight global warming.

Podesta said that the president was committed to using executive orders to pass regulations under the Clean Air Act to limit carbon dioxide emissions that they say cause global warming.

“They may try, but there are no takers at this end of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Podesta told reporters at a Monday press conference at the White House.

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have urged the Obama administration to scale back their climate goals because of the adverse impact of new regulations on the coal industry. Coal supporters have portrayed the administration’s actions as the “war on coal” due to huge job losses in coal states like Kentucky and West Virginia.

“We’re getting the living crap beaten out of us,” West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin told President Obama’s nominee to be the country’s top energy regulator last year. “There has been nothing more beat up than coal.”

“They just beat the living daylights out of little West Virginia, but they sure like what we produce,” Manchin told former nominee Ron Binz. “We could do it a lot better if we had a government working with us as a partner.”

Last year, Manchin eventually joined Republicans to oppose Binz’s nomination to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee. Manchin was concerned that Binz would promote renewable energy at the expense of coal power.

Republicans have also united to oppose many of Obama’s most controversial global warming policies, introducing numerous bill in both houses of Congress aimed at repealing regulatory actions. The latest Republican effort to derail Obama’s climate goals came from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who introduced legislation to repeal all energy tax subsidies, which would hurt renewable energy growth.

John Podesta
John D. Podesta is a counselor for the Barack Obama administration, and the founder for the Center for American Progress.

Note: Cassandra Q. Butts was the deputy White House counsel for the Barack Obama administration, the SVP for the Center for American Progress, and is Barack Obama’s law school friend.
Melody C. Barnes was the domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, the EVP for the Center for American Progress, and is Barack Obama’s golf partner.
Ezekiel Emanuel was the health care policy adviser for the Barack Obama administration, is Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother, and is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Climate Reality Project, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Carol M. Browner is a senior fellow, director at the Center for American Progress, was the energy czar for the Barack Obama administration, an administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and a director at the Climate Reality Project.
Albert A. Gore Jr. is the chairman for the Climate Reality Project, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and was a donor at The Climate Project.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was a donor for The Climate Project.
The Climate Project was a merged organization with the Climate Reality Project.
Natural Resources Defense Council is a partner with the Reality Coalition.
Reality Coalition opposes coal use in the Clean coal debate.
James Gustave Speth is a trustee at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and a director at the Climate Reality Project.






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