KERRY AND LIEBERMAN: MURKOWSKI DEFEATED, SENATE MUST ACT THIS YEAR

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), co-authors of the Senate’s comprehensive energy independence and climate change legislation, today applauded the Senate for reaffirming the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate dangerous greenhouse emissions. The Senators called on those who supported today’s measure to strip greenhouse gas regulation authority from the EPA to step up and support the American Power Act.

“The Senate made the right decision today but the big question is what comes now. Many supporters of the Murkowski resolution argued passionately that climate change is real but that addressing it is a job for Congress not the EPA. We hope they will now engage with us to pass our pro-business, pro-jobs approach so the EPA doesn’t have to do the job that the Senate has failed to do,” the Senators said in a joint statement.  “We have an unprecedented coalition of business supporters standing behind our bill, including many who have successfully killed previous legislation. They know that the American Power Act is not your grandfather’s climate bill. It contains business incentives and provisions that non-partisan analysts agree will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, protect consumers, and put us on a path towards energy independence. Now we face a test of whether the Senate can do what even the Murkowski resolution’s proponents said we should be doing.”

For more information on the American Power Act, please visit kerry.senate.gov and lieberman.senate.gov.

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