The House of Representitives voted narrowly yesterday by a count of 219-212 to pass the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009” or as it's more commonly known as the Waxman/Markey bill.  It took some strong last-minute lobbying by two heavy hitters - President Obama and the Goracle himself (who oddly enough stayed relatively out of the spotlight during the life of this bit of legislation), to urge passage of, "the most sweeping climate change policy ever considered by Congress."  

Yesterday's vote was certainly not lacking in WTF moments as the "very organized" Republican opposition had to reach deep into its bag of tricks to pull out a rarely used filibuster-like move to delay the vote.  House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) used parliamentary procedure to read aloud before the House a 300-page amendment that had been added in the wee hours of Friday morning.  After an hour of reading, which presumably was hard on everyone, Boehner surrendered the floor leaving many wondering how he lasted that long.

So what's next? - via The Huffington Post:
Passage of the Waxman-Markey bill by the House is the first stage in what promises to remain a difficult legislative process. The Senate is now scheduled to consider the matter, though it has yet to produce actual legislation. Once the Senate passes a bill, it must be merged with the House's version in conference committee. Finalized, the legislation will then be reconsidered by both bodies of Congress before ultimately making it to the president's desk.

 

Yesterday, just minutes after the vote shook down, our inbox was flooded with messages from non-profits, organizations, and think tanks that we work with or are associated with in one way or another.

Here is what they're saying.

From Green For All: This historic bill promises to transition the United States to clean energy, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and revitalize American industry.

Thanks to our combined advocacy efforts, measures on green job training, job quality standards, and community access to green jobs were added to the bill.

Now ACES includes significant opportunity for communities that too often languish at the margins of American prosperity. Through ACES, low-income communities will be able to access quality clean energy jobs, and the training required to prepare them for those jobs.

From Climate Solutions: By passing ACES today, the House has started the engines. Can our leaders accelerate fast enough and avoid the potholes – the special interest politics, the scare tactics, the fear of change – between here and the serious national solutions we need? 

For that to happen, the Senate will need to strengthen the bill by eliminating loopholes and charging up the new energy economy. The President doesn’t want to micromanage, but he will need to lead more aggressively to ensure that Congress delivers the goods. 

Political accommodation is part of the process; but at the end of the day, Congress must deliver the fundamentals: 1) a firm, science-based commitment to reduce fossil fuel dependence and climate pollution to safe levels, and 2) robust American leadership to build a strong, fair new energy economy that creates good jobs; and 3) a national policy commitment strong and just enough to set the stage for an effective global climate accord in Copenhagen this December.

From 1Sky:

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