Iowa DUers - Energy Bill and Senator, Charles Grassley

[Booberdawg]

Dear MoveOn Member in Iowa,

As top Republicans try to force final passage of a terrible energy
bill <1>, your Senator, Charles Grassley, is doing Iowa and the country
a real service by preventing final passage until the bill contains
certain provisions he supports.

This is good, but it could be better. Grassley is now fighting mainly
for ethanol subsidies, something we don't particularly support, except
that his stand is preventing passage of the energy bill. <2>

Here's how it could be better: Grassley has in the past supported a
provision called a Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS), that would
require America to produce 10% of its energy from renewable sources by
2020. <3> An RPS would be a big step forward for energy independence
and for the environment, and it would benefit Iowa's economy because
Iowa can produce energy from renewable sources, including wind, solar,
and biomass.

Grassley voted for an RPS last year, and though the other Republicans
finalizing this year's energy bill have refused to include an RPS,
Grassley said a few weeks ago that he would support it this year too.

Let's urge him to insist that this year's energy bill contain an RPS.
This will have two benefits: (1) it supports an important policy; (2)
it reinforces Grassley's resistance to passing the bill as it stands.

Please call your Senator now, at:

Senator Charles Grassley

Washington, DC: 202-224-3744
Des Moines: 515-284-4574
Davenport: 319-322-4331
Cedar Rapids: 319-363-6832
Sioux City: 712-233-1860
Council Bluffs: 712-322-7103
Waterloo: 319-232-6657

Make sure his staff members know you're a constituent (Grassley is up
for re-election next year). Then urge him to:

"Please insist that a Renewables Portfolio Standard be included
in the energy bill."

Then give some reasons why renewable energy is important to you.

Please let us know you're calling - we'd like to keep a count:

http://www.moveon.org/callmade3.html?id=2057-3329492-itSRUfRfRLSaC5TQfqpiTw

Please make your call right away. The situation is very fluid -- Vice
President Cheney was on Capitol Hill yesterday, twisting arms on the
energy bill.

Thanks for all you're doing to leave a better world for our kids.

Sincerely,

- Peter Schurman
MoveOn.org
Thursday, October 30th, 2003

<1> For more information on the energy bill and why it's so awful, see:
http://www.sierraclub.org/energy/bush_bill.asp

<2> For more detailed information on the current situation and
Grassley's role in it, see this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-energy-congress.html

<3> For more information on the Renewables Portfolio Standard, see:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/renewable_energy/page.cfm?pageID=109
and
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/renewable_energy/page.cfm?pageID=46
________________

[mobiggsly]

1. do democrats not support ethanol subsidies??

If so why not? Whether its cleaner or not is debatable. What is for sure is that it will string out our oil supply until a suitable replacement for gasoline can be had and it will also help out the economies in farm states and communities which are just dieing mostly because of low farm prices.

[Booberdawg]

2. I'm not sure what the Democratic position is on ethanol subsidies

What I do know is that the energy bill is extremely complicated and just horrible. I received this message as the result of my membership with MoveOn.org and as I understand it they are not necessarily in support of ethanol subsidies other than the fact that Senator Grassley's fight to include this in the energy bill is preventing final passage. We DO want to prevent final passage of this energy bill.

We have someone on DU that is quite studied on all the aspects of the provisions and issues of the energy bill and I PM'd her with this. As soon as I hear back from her I will follow up, or perhaps she will comment on this herself.

[mobiggsly]

3. its probably better than the republican position

yeah, I know I pretty much missed the point of the original post with my comment, but that's a big issue to me, so just wondering.

[Booberdawg]

4. No prob

And by the way, welcome to DU mobiggsly! :toast:

[mobiggsly]

6. thanks for the welcome

I hope I dont make too many people mad. I'm not nearly as liberal as most of the people around here but I was in that 30% or whatever of Nebraskans voting for Gore! The post from that other guy is right, voting against ethanol from a farm state is no way to win an election. Although I sometimes think gay bashing and a strong anti-abortions stance will get you much farther.

[Booberdawg]

8. Glad to hear you voted for Gore

I am a hop and a skip from Lincoln, in Council Bluffs. It's not easy being a Democrat in E-I-E-I-O land.

I always fill up with the ethanol added choice at the pump. Yeah, there's a spot on Dodge in Omaha that alway has some anti-abortion protesters picketing. I've never seen more that a half dozen at a time there, and usually just a couple. I'm not aware of a lot of gay bashing though. Are you?

I don't think you meant to suggest you supported a gay bashing and a strong anti-abortion stance in order to win an election, did you? Just to be clear, I would take a very un-neighborly and unfriendly view of such positions. Particularly gay bashing.

[mobiggsly]

11. maybe i exaggerate

I didn't mean to say that I was into anti abortion and gay bashing, people can be gay or not be gay, it doesnt matter to me, however the reason I say that is because when our governor Johans was mayor of Lincoln, he made a big deal of not letting a gay and lesbian group not have a permit for a parade. Suddenly he was everyones hero and talk of him running for governor started. I had never heard any talk of him running for governor before that but he eventually swept into that office beating a strong democratic candidate who I particularly liked(many democratic candidates in Nebraska are a joke if they are even there at all). It's probably an exaggeration to say gay bashing won him the election, but I think it got the ball rolling.

[Booberdawg]

12. Okay I got ya

I don't keep up much on Nebr politics although most of my life I have worked in Omaha and do hear quite a bit at work. Unfortunately the issue with denying the permit for the gay and lesbian group probably did get the ball rolling for Johans.

[Ficus]

5. Ethanol

is great. I only fill up on that anyways. And also, if you live here, and don't support ethanol 100%, republican or democrat, you might as well kiss your elected office goodbye.

Why did McCain skip Iowa? He actually might have done okay here, but he opposed ethanol - a kiss of death here.

This is good, but it could be better. Grassley is now fighting mainly
for ethanol subsidies, something we don't particularly support, except
that his stand is preventing passage of the energy bill.

someone tell me why a group like move on wouldnt support ethanol?

[Skidmore]

7. It's about time Grassley earned his keep...up to now he's

done nothing but carry water for *.

[Booberdawg]

9. What part of Iowa, Skidmore?

I'm in Council Bluffs

[Skidmore]

18. I'm in the Iowa City area. A hearty hale to you out there

in CB. What a beautiful area of the state you live in!! If you come this way, e-mail me.

[Booberdawg]

19. Good to know and if I get out that way will do

:hi:

[Ficus]

10. gotta give the guy

some credit. For being a Republican, he's still conservative-moderate, and I won't vote for him (I sure wish a Dem had enough balls to run against him here).

But he did fight Rep. Thomas to make the tax cut smaller (even though any was too much) and pissed off the Bushies a whole lot then.

At one point, I was working at a gas station in Cedar Falls, on the side of town that is near New Hartford, Grassley's hometown. Every once in a while, the guy would come in, wearing crappy clothes, and driving a old rusted out 1960 Plymouth, and was super low key and way nice. I just have respect for the guy since every time I've met him he's been so not-a-US Senator-type guy, and even though I told him I worked for Harkin before and was a Democrat, he told me to apply to work for him.

Like I said, I'd never vote for him, and wish he'd lose.
Ok, everyone tell me what an a$$hole I am for liking Grassley.

:dem: :dem:

[bigtree]

13. kick

[Booberdawg]

14. thanks bigtree

I knew you'd see this :hi:

[bigtree]

15. I got all my call and letters out and I'm ready for another round

I sense the potential for a cave-in on this bill.

Gotta get busy (ier)

[Booberdawg]

16. kick

[Booberdawg]

17. one more time