Bush Vows to Veto a U.S. Climate Change Bill

George W. Bush is a hypocrite. There’s no denying that Bush has his hands in the pockets of untold numbers of corporations. It’s all about lobbyists and bribes; protecting buddies and fellow members of his administration. Though, that may be giving him too much credit – perhaps Bush really is one of those amazing people who genuinely believe that climate change isn’t real.

Bush has vowed to veto a U.S. climate change bill that’s currently making its way across the Senate floor. The Bush administration opposes economy-wide measures to limit carbon emissions.

From Reuters:

The legislation the Senate will debate could cut total U.S. global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050, according to a summary of the measure.

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would drop by about 2 percent per year between 2012 and 2050, based on 2005 emission levels, under the measure.

The bill would cap carbon emissions from 86 percent of U.S. facilities, and emissions from those would be 19 percent below current levels by 2020 and 71 percent below current levels by 2050, according to a summary of the bill’s details released by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

It’s been said before and it’s worth saying again: the disconnect in logic between the Bush administration’s reasoning for starting the Iraq War and their hesitance to do anything about the impending climate crisis is astounding. Case in point: Bush and Co. argued that the possibility that Saddam Hussein had WMDs was reason enough to invade Iraq despite not having proof, because the possible outcome was just too dangerous. That argument worked for them then, and yet applying the same argument to climate change – which has plenty of scientific data to back it up – apparently doesn’t work.

Furthermore, Bush had no problem running up an outrageous bill to fund the unpopular, pointless war in Iraq, but hypocritically speaks out against spending too much on a climate change plan:

“I urge the Congress to be very careful about running up enormous costs for future generations of Americans,” Bush said at a White House meeting on the economy and taxes. “We’ll work with the Congress, but the idea of a huge spending bill fueled by tax increases isn’t the right way to proceed.”

The bill’s supporters, particularly Senator Barbara Boxer of California, have angrily lashed out at Bush for his resistance to climate change legislation, noting his connection to Big Oil and that he had financial incentives to prevent such bills from passing.

Even if the bill passed in the Senate, it wouldn’t become law while Bush is still in office, so maybe we’ll get to see the next president give it a chance. Obama FTW!

Link [Reuters]

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