I still have not listened to the hearing, but I have read the proposal, and I agree with Kerry.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/01/free_to_speak_his_mind_kerry_a.htmlFree to Speak His Mind, Kerry Aims at Presidential Hopefuls
By CQ Staff | 10:09 AM; Jan. 31, 2007 | Email This Article
Now that he has shaken free of his own White House ambitions, Sen. John Kerry has let loose on a proposal pushed by three 2008 presidential contenders to slash global warming pollution over the next half-century.
The Massachusetts Democrat assailed legislation (S 280) on Tuesday cosponsored by Arizona Republican John McCain and Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois for not moving quickly enough to reduce greenhouse gases.
“It is not going to get the job done. . . . It’s that simple,” Kerry said outside a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on climate change.
“If you believe in the science . . . then you have to do the full job. There’s no halfway here,” added the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, who last week announced that he will not seek the 2008 nomination.
Inside the hearing room, the presidential wannabes joined about two dozen other senators in laying out their preferred policies to Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Boxer faces the difficult task of balancing concerns like Kerry’s with those from members who criticize the McCain bill for going too far.
Kerry, who plans to offer his own bill this week, has voted for two previous versions of the McCain measure.