Foreign Policy Blogs

"The Shot Heard Round the World"

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi referenced this famous line from Emerson's "The Concord Hymn" in talking about the energy bill being passed out of the House today.   Her idea is that Congress can start a new American Revolution with passage of this legislation.   It's called the "Energy Independence and Security Act" and we've talked about it for months here.  I, for one, had more or less despaired of our country coming to its senses so that legislation of this magnitude could even be reasonably considered in the halls of Congress.  We are not far from passage of this legislation into law.  The whole world is watching, absolutely.

The final vote today in the House was 235 aye, 181 nay.

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

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