BREAKING NEWS:
One Step Closer to Achieving Our Energy Vision

March 28, 2007 -- Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved our two top legislative priorities on energy. Both S.Res.30, the Biden-Lugar climate resolution, and S.193, the Energy Diplomacy Security Act of 2007, passed voice vote this afternoon. 

The Biden-Lugar resolution would put the U.S. Senate on record as supporting U.S. participation in binding international climate agreements. Perceived Senate opposition to such agreements has proved a stumbling block to effective international action on climate change, making this resolution a critical step towards overcoming this historic challenge. 

S.193 gets U.S. energy policy back on track, recognizing the need to work together with other nations to improve energy security, expand access to renewable energy technologies and fight climate change. It also corrects major flaws in  policy coordination structures that prevent the U.S. from effectively developing and implementing energy policy. 

This was the first vote on any climate change legislation in any committee in the 110th Congress. 

A resolution similar to S.Res.30 sponsored by Senators Kerry and  Biden came close to passing in June 2005. It was defeated 46-49 in a vote by the full Senate. The current committee members who voted against the 2005 Kerry-Biden resolution were Senators DeMint, Hagel, Isakson, Murkowski, Sununu, Voinovich and Vitter. Of these seven, DeMint, Isakson, and Murkowski were present for today's committee vote.

+ S.193 FACTSHEET [HTML] [PDF]
+ S.193 BILL TEXT, CO-SPONSORS & STATUS
+ S.RES.30 FACTSHEET [HTML] [PDF]
+ S.RES.30 BILL TEXT, CO-SPONSORS & STATUS

Updated March 28, 2007

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