** For witness statements, go to the next post, here ** 

Just got back from the Senate office building where young people didn’t manage to enter the committee room.

10:47 Am – Voinovich doesn’t like the bill, big surprise

10:49 – Boxer ‘Climate change won’t be waiting for who is a democrat or who is a republican.’ Would like bi-partisanship but Senate lacks a Warner-like Republican.

10:50 – Voinovich ‘Building wind turbines is approximately the same as building nuclear power plants’ – does that include cost on waste disposal?

10:51 – Boxer ‘I am not advocating for taxpayers to build windmills OR nuclear. Trying to level the playing field so technologies can compete fairly’ – There you go!

10:53 – Lautenberg ‘We are looking at number of pages of bills to identify veracity. I didn’t know people were so concerned about trees!’ Calls for young people to be in the audience!!! Asks for them to testify about why we need to fight for this! Yeea!

10:55 – Lautenberg ‘It would be equally important to hear from the fisherman, asthma victims as much as farmers. We should look into the face of children and explain in their terms. How much would Americans be willing to pay in taxes to reverse these ills!’ My new favorite senator?

10:56 – Lautenberg ‘America wake up! Your kids are in danger! Your country is in danger’

10:59 – Can I just say “Climate deniers lie” every time one speaks? It would get a little redundant to keep on transcribing all of their disinformation (Sen. Barasso is speaking now, where are the Wyoming youth? Call him and tell him to invest in clean energy jobs)

11:00 – Barasso calls fossil fuels Red White and Blue energy… I can see red, but oil is certainly not white or blue!

11:01 – Merkeley “Choice of creating jobs for Americans, or sending jobs overseas” this hearing is all about republicans saying the bill will destroy jobs, while some democrats are saying it will create jobs. Doesn’t seem like anyone is taking the time to understand where the other is coming from.

11:04 – Merkeley “Whenever I ask college students what their top issue is, they always talk about climate change” – “You could argue this bill isn’t moving fast enough!” go get them Merkeley!

11:06 – Vitter doesn’t like cap and trade. Seems like his dislike is more about capping carbon than about trade.

11:07  - Vitter spreads lie about Chinese and Indian inaction.

11:09 – Vitter still summarizing all debunked lies about climate, cap and trade, and clean energy. Conspiracy theories abound.

11:14 – Whitehouse talks about how few of the World’s top renewable energy companies are American. This alone is reason for action! Says we are moving too slowly, Whitehouse is added to the champions list.

11:15 – Sanders on the mike! “This is not about votes, it’s about SCIENCE! We might pass something someday, and we will celebrate, but IT WON’T BE ENOUGH! Listen to the scientists!”

11:17: – Sanders “What we are proposing for our economy is to save millions of dollars while creating jobs. This should be a NO BRAINER!”

11:20 – Cardin talking about international climate migrants. ‘I can take you to Maryland islands, our own islands are disappearing’

11:22 – Cardin ‘Reinvestment act shows us that if we act, we can work towards solutions. Who knows how many more jobs we would have lost without it. Just like with the Climate Crisis, we must act to prevent worse things’

11:23 – Cardin ‘Bill is already favorable to Nuclear because it levels the playing field and makes it more competitive vs. oil. Doesn’t need more’

** For witness statements, go to the next post, here **