President Obama: Continue to Lead on Clean Energy and Climate Bill

In a pivotal meeting at the White House today, President Obama urged a bipartisan group of Senators to assemble a clean energy and climate bill that puts a limit on carbon pollution for Senate floor action after the July 4th recess.

I welcome Obama’s sense of urgency and his strong support for a bill that includes firm limits on carbon pollution. Congress has passed seven major energy bills since 1974; each one promised to fix our energy mess and each one failed. America can’t afford another cosmetic bill with lofty goals and no way to achieve them.

Obama is helping change that: He is the catalyst we need right now.

We have seen time and again that when this President takes complex negotiations in hand, he gets results. He did it with health care; he did it with financial reform.

He can succeed once again. But only if he keeps the pressure on.

As Congress enters the final weeks of its summer session, we need the President to use the full force of his office to push clean energy and climate legislation over the finish line. The White House has to be involved in the process of producing a bill.

The President will have many eager allies in this process, starting with the American people. The latest CBS/NY Times poll found that nearly 90 percent of Americans believe U.S. energy policy needs either “fundamental changes” or “to be completely rebuilt.”

Yet America can’t wait much longer for our lawmakers to lead on breaking the nation’s addiction to dirty, dangerous fossil fuels. America must start now to move down a cleaner, safer energy path—one that will generate jobs, reduce pollution, and strengthen national security.