Another Week, More Work

This week, my assignment was to draft an outline of how I would run a meeting with a Congressperson, and read a New Yorker article about climate legislation. My hypothetical meeting was with Barbara Boxer about the Carbon Fee and Divided, an initiative pushed by CCL in August. I followed some CCL guidelines, and made a good start to learning how to lead a conversation with a senator. The article I read (twice) was about a bill nicknamed KGL, for the proponents of it: John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joseph Lieberman. These senators tried to pass a non-partisan cap and trade bill through Congress. They were met with so much opposition, and tried to satisfy so many people that it eventually failed. It started with backing by John McCain and other Republicans. However, they betrayed the bill despite the adjustments made protecting nuclear energy like they wanted. A "linked fee" was added for the oil refineries, which resulted in more opposition by others. These attempts were well-intentioned, but were met with so much opposition by the media, and made Congress hesitant to passing any climate bills in the near future. I didn't have a meeting to discuss these with Amy because I was sick, but I will see her this weekend at the monthly CCL conference call. However, yesterday I had the chance to go over some laser talks with Megan Wiggins, a CCL member in Florida. That was pretty helpful. Total: 20 hours.