James Pethokoukis

Here is what the POTUS told COP15:

I believe we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of a common threat. That’s why I come here today — not to talk, but to act.

But back in America, it’s the Senate that’s acting — and not in a way that Obama likes. First, Maria Cantwell and Susan Collins have come up with a cap-and-dividend alternative that could steal support away from the cap-and-trade efforts of the White House and Kerry-Boxer-Lieberman-Graham. And now there is also an effort in the Senate to negate the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger health and the environment. It’s the EPA ruling that is supposed to be the catalyst for action on climate since most everyone agrees that EPA regulation would be even more ham-handed and onerous that congressional action.