October 30, 2003

Clean Air Council Statement on the U.S. Senate's Global Warming Vote

STATEMENT OF ARTHUR STAMOULIS, POLICY ANALYST:

By voting against the Climate Stewardship Act, Senators Specter and Santorum missed a golden opportunity to protect the health of Pennsylvania’s economy and its environment. Environmentalists, religious leaders, farmers and outdoor businesses all supported this legislation. By failing to act on global warming, Pennsylvania’s senators not only turned their backs on an overwhelming body of scientific evidence -- they turned their backs on their constituents.

Even though the Climate Stewardship Act failed to pass, the final tally did bode well for the possibility that global warming legislation will pass in the near future. The fact that 43 senators, including many Republicans, voted for this bill is a very clear sign that legislators are trying to distance themselves from the President's decision to ignore the problem of global warming.