Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
3/27/2015
Several senators were successful late this week in adding provisions concerning carbon pollution and climate change to the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2016 budget resolution. Among the amendments put forth during debate on the budget resolution was one by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) that would put in place prohibitions on the adoption of a federal carbon tax. The amendment was passed by a vote of 58-42. An amendment from Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.V) that would have established a “requirement that any new environmental agreement sign by the United States with any foreign country or countries not result in serious harm to the economy of the United States,” was ultimately withdrawn.
An amendment proposed by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), which passed by a vote of 53-47, calls on the government to respond “to the economic and national security threats posed by human-induced climate change, as highlighted by the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.” Bennet co-sponsored the amendment with Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). “Climate change is already affecting every state in America, threatening our health, our economy, and our national security,” Whitehouse said in a release. “Respected leaders from the Secretary of Defense to our scientists at NASA agree that we must act soon to protect our national interests. This amendment will give Senators an opportunity to show that they are ready to address this serious threat.”
