BREAKING: ONE VOTE SHORT

A minority of the Senate has forced that august body to abrogate its responsibility to the public. It is a shame to the nation but it is far from the end of the fight. Recalcitrant conservative elements looking out only for their own bottom lines cannot stay the future. It is coming and it will require New Energy.

There could be no better indication of which way the future of New Energy will go than that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama returned to D.C. from the ferocious battlefields of Iowa and New Hampshire to vote for this bill.

What was displayed in this debate was not stewardship of the creation but the devouring of it.

It is not too late to let the Senators know this is unacceptable to the majority of their constituencies:

POWER OF WIND or SOLAR NATION

Energy Bill Falls Just Short
Daniel W. Reilly, December 13, 2007 (Politico via CBS News)

WHO
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

That may be the direction to look to "green" D.C., Harry, but look to the American electorate for the "greening of the nation." November 2008 is less than a year away.

WHAT
Reid failed by one vote to open debate on an energy bill that included a $21.8 billion shift of incentives to New Energy.

WHEN
The vote came December 13. Senator Reid says he wants to submit a revised bill for a vote before the end of the day.

POWER OF WIND or SOLAR NATION

WHERE
Senator Reid will return the bill to the Senate floor without the incentives package.

WHY
59 Senators voted for the bill but 60 votes would be necessary to prevent the minority from bringing business in the Senate to a halt with a filibuster. To avoid this, debate will not go forward until Reid brings a bill satisfactory to 60 Senators. That means a bill without a shift of $13+ billion in subsidies and incentives from fossil fuels to New Energy.

It is not too late to let the Senators know this is unacceptable to the majority of their constituencies:

POWER OF WIND or SOLAR NATION

QUOTES
Majority Leader Reid: "It was a good, heartfelt battle…We are going to finish this bill today if at all possible."