We were as disappointed when then Senator Barack Obama opposed the Cap and Trade Clear Skies Initiative as we are now with Republicans who supported Cap and Trade for that clean air and climate change mitigation legislation. We lobbied then Senator Barack Obama to include an Environmental Justice Allowance Reserve (EJAR) amendment to the Clear Skies Initiative legislation in a futile attempt to get him to support the legislation . He deferred in favor of subsequently cosponsoring environmental justice legislation with Senator Hillary Clinton.
McDonald in Red Room with President Bush
We are now disappointed that Republicans are opposing Cap and Trade for climate change mitigation when they supported it under the Clear Skies Initiative. We tried our best to get Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee to support the Clear Skies Initiative. We worked with then Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee James Inhofe to get the Cap and Trade Clear Skies Initiative passed (it failed). The Center worked with then Chairman of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chairman James Connaughton and then CEQ communications director Dana Perino to get the Cap and Trade Clear Skies Initiative passed. Yet Republicans are turning their backs on Cap and Trade now and we are deeply disappointed that they reject a concept they once aggressively embraced. The Center maintains its steadfast support for Cap and Trade because it worked superbly in a successful Clean Air Act Acid Rain Program.
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