department of energy

Anna Hall 9-20-2013
Air pollution, homydesign / Shutterstock.com

Air pollution, homydesign / Shutterstock.com

This Wednesday on Capitol Hill, the House subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing to discuss the Obama administration’s climate change policies and activities. The policies in question were the president’s Climate Action Plan, announced this summer, which has three main pillars:

  • cutting carbon emissions,
  • leading international efforts to combat climate change, and
  • preparing the United States for climate change impacts.

The Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and the Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz were present to answer questions about the president’s plan, which works with new and existing programs in both agencies to reduce our climate change pollution and increase our resilience to climate change. Some of the programs are required by a recent Supreme Court decision that labeled carbon dioxide a pollutant; others, as Moniz pointed out, would happen to carry the benefit of energy efficiency. 

For some members of Congress, this is a problem because they do not wish to cede any ground to the executive. For others, it is a problem simply because they do not wish to do anything about climate change.

Jim Wallis 11-11-2011
Stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Governor Perry should have to stand up and have the three hour Lincoln-Douglas style debates about why he wants to cut the Departments of Education, Commerce, Energy, and perhaps even the Environmental Protection Agency, and all the other government work that he would like to forget.

Jim Wallis 11-10-2011

http://youtu.be/2Xl6InVGY2Y

I’m sure you’ve seen the clip that has now gone all over the world.

And Perry is taking a pounding from the pundits.

CNN's Jack Cafferty told Perry it was time for him to "just go away," saying: "This 'aw shucks,' grade-school stuff may play in Texas -— but I, sir, don't want you anywhere near the nuclear launch codes."

Hardball’s Chris Mathews labeled it a “brain freeze” on his show.

The Washington Post called it a "senior moment."

And the U.K.'s Globe and Mail eloquently dubbed it a "brain fart."

I call it “ideological idiocy.”