It was overshadowed by the presidential campaign, but last Dec. 5 a bit of environmental legislative history was made. After repeated failures, and in the face of opposition from the White House, the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works passed legislation that would mandate greenhouse gas reductions for the American economy, a vital step to implementing a national carbon cap-and-trade program. What changed? The Democratic seizure of Congress in 2006 made a big difference, replacing global warming skeptic Sen. James Inhofe as committee chairperson with the green Sen. Barbara Boxer. But the real transformation came not from a Democrat but a Republican — the veteran Virginia Sen. John Warner. Though Warner had voted against similar measures in the past, this time around he not only supported the bill — which calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 2005 levels by 2012, and then 70% below 2005 levels by 2050 — but co-sponsored it with Sen. Joseph Lieberman. "We had a bipartisan breakthrough, thanks to the wonderful John Warner," says Boxer.
Climate change is usually characterized as an environmental threat, but it wasn't melting icebergs or endangered polar bears that made Warner change his mind. "I have focused above all on issues of national security," Warner said after the bill passed committee. "I see the problem of global climate change fitting squarely within that focus." For Warner, unchecked global warming could create a world that is inherently more dangerous for the U.S. Acting to mitigate climate change was another way of keeping America safe.
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