Dan Pfeiffer writes:

There is no global solution to climate change without the United States; and our best chance to save the planet may be slipping through our fingers. John Podesta, the wisest of Washington wisemen, recently sent an urgent memo to every Democrat in the House and in the Senate, pleading with them to stop bickering and start legislating. Podesta spearheaded climate policy in the Obama White House during the second term and has been pushing the Democratic Party to be more aggressive on the issue for as long as I can remember. Therefore, one line in his memo stuck out to me:

On the climate crisis in particular, the screen is blinking ‘code red.’ There is no time. There is no next time.

There is real worry in Washington that the divides between Democrats are too great and both the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, which has a modicum of climate spending and the Build Back Better bill, which represents the boldest climate action in history, will fail. I have some uncharacteristic optimism that the Party will come together to ensure the worst-case scenario does not come to pass. My concern is that what does pass will be woefully insufficient to address the existential threat of climate change. Centrist members of Congress are currently nickel-and-diming the bill to death to pander to special interests or reduce their personal political risk. [Continue reading…]