Thursday, December 10, 2015

Expanding on his ambitious plan to combat climate change, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the Climate Protection and Justice Act today to establish a price on carbon pollution. The legislation would cut total emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, fund historic investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies, return billions of dollars to working families and protect the most vulnerable communities.

“What the scientists tell us is that we have a relatively short window of opportunity to bring about the fundamental changes that we need in our global energy system to transform our energy system,” Sanders said on the Senate floor today. “It is absolutely vital that we do what many economists tell us we must and that is put a price on carbon. It is the simplest and most direct way to make the kind of cuts in carbon pollution that we have got to make if we are going to successfully transition away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.”

Sanders’ legislation would return billions of dollars to working families to ensure that the fossil fuels industry doesn’t pass on unfair rate hikes. Eighty percent of revenue would be transferred from big polluters to the middle class.

The legislation creates a Climate Justice Resiliency Council, which will distribute $20 billion a year in block grants to areas disproportionately affected by climate change. The bill also sets aside $3 billion each year for energy efficiency investments for towns, cities and low-income families. Other aspects of the bill include: protections for the manufacturing sector from unfair international competition; roughly $1 billion in annual investments to reduce costs for the agricultural sector while also reducing pollution; and reforms to dramatically increase energy efficiency and improve resiliency of the electrical grid.

Hillary Clinton says that aliens may have already visited humanity.
"I think we may have been [visited already]. We don't know for sure," the Democratic presidential front-runner told The Conway Daily Sun during a campaign stop in New Hampshire last week.

Her comment came after being asked about her husband Bill Clinton's comments during an appearance on late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in 2014, when he suggested that extraterrestrial life could exist.

"I just hope it's not like 'Independence Day,'" said Clinton, referring to the film where aliens attack earth.