The House of Representatives passed the Climate Change bill by the narrow margin of 219-212 on Friday, but losing a substantial number of "blue dog" Democrats while gaining a small number of Republicans.
The highly controversial bill is designed to deal with the long range problem of global warming and move the nation away from fossil fuels over a long period of time, and it will likely raise energy costs for most, if not all, Americans.
This is regrettable, but it seems to me unavoidable, as we have been too dependent on fossil fuels and ignored moving on this topic as far back as the Carter Administration. Jimmy Carter had many faults in office, but he looks now like a sage by his attempt to deal with the energy crisis, which was lost when the Congress turned more conservative with the gaining of a substantial number of Republican seats in the midterm 1978 elections.
Our failure to come to grips with the energy and environmental crisis thirty years ago has come home to roost, and now we have no choice but to "bite the bullet" and face the crisis head on.Â
Barack Obama is showing great courage in confronting this issue early on in his term, realizing that if he does not succeed now, it is unlikely that it will be accomplished during this term, and that the odds of success now are the greatest they will be in his time in office. Now it is up to the Senate to face the reality of the energy and environmental crisis and work with the House to pass a bill that can be signed by the President this year.