May 7, 2010

Climate Bill Coming Next Wednesday


It appears we have an answer to the “with or without Graham” question. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) just issued a statement announcing that they plan to unveil their much-anticipated climate and energy legislation next Wednesday without their Republican ally, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Since the postponement of the roll out, originally scheduled for April 26, the senators say that they’ve “continued working, moving forward, and talking in great detail with our Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and with the environmental and business communities.” They added, “we believe we’ve made new progress on the path to 60 votes” and “are more encouraged today that we can secure the necessary votes to pass this legislation this year.”

Their statement continued to thank Graham for his support, even as he, just this morning, took yet another step back from endorsing action on the measure this year. Yet they say that they will pass the bill this year “with the support of Senator Graham and other Republicans, Democrats and Independents.”

They note that “we all understand Lindsey has been busy with the immigration issue.” (“Busy,” of course, has consisted of him throwing a wrench in the climate effort because he’s mad at Harry Reid about the legislative calendar, and then bashing the Democratic immigration plan released last week.) But even if Graham won’t be with them at next week’s introduction, Kerry and Lieberman lauded his participation in the effort to date:

We appreciate Senator Graham’s statement of his continued commitment to passing comprehensive energy independence legislation. Over the past several months we have worked with Senator Graham and he has made a significant contribution to construct balanced legislation that will make our country energy independent, create jobs and curb pollution. Senator Graham has been our partner in building a broad-based coalition of support for legislation that can pass the Senate this year.

In the very least, we have a new due date for the climate bill. Additional details are supposed to be released next week.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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