Now, I understand the reason folks are disheartened with the Senate's inability to pass a stronger environmental bill, as I'm sure the Senator does. We've been dealing with the scorched-earth stance of the Republicans in Congress and in the White House for the past seven years, and everyone is banking on the Dems to turn things around. But as Senator Kerry explained, and as we all know, there is just no way to pass the legislation we want passed with the current Congress. It won't happen with the Senate as it exists today, and the only real answer, Senator Kerry reminded us, is to elect more Democrats. You can argue about filibusters and what can be done to overcome the lack of votes until you're blue, but the simple fact is we need the votes. It's not necessarily the answer anyone wants to hear,but it is what it is. And as the Senator noted, they Dems have "fought some damned tough fights" in the Senate this year to pass what they did. It's progressive. And there has been progress.

"You have a longer list of things that we've passed, more people have been helped, more money for education, more money for Pell grants, more money for transportation, more money for housing, more money for... I mean, you run the list of things that we've been able to do over the objection of Republicans ... we've legislated more, we've held longer hearings, we've held more hearings, we've had more bills passed, and we've been able to hold on to some of the priorities. And people need to take a hard look at what's the balance here, and balance sheet. Are we getting everything we want? No. Can we do better? Yes. But we have to have a strategy to get there to do better, and that's what we're fighting for."

It was a good, honest discussion, I think, if at times contentious, with legitimate points made for and against making Senate Republicans work harder for their record-breaking filibusters. But with the end of the year approaching, the business of the Senate is limited to getting the work done, and some things are going to have to be fixed after the fact. Not ideal, but sometimes a very harsh reality steps in, and compromises are made.

He faced a tough crowd on the phone last night, but the Senator's a pretty tough guy. Thanks to Senator Kerry and to the great folks who ask the hard questions. I think the conversation was an important one to have, and that everyone on the call gained something from the discussion that we might not had we stuck to the original topic.

As much as the energy bill is immediate and critical, I really wanted to hear about Senator Kerry's whirlwind trip to Bali and get his thoughts on how it went, where it's going, and what can be done. I think he was probably anxious to get to the topic.

I'm going to post this verbatim for all you folks who would have liked to ask the same:

KV: "Can you give us your reaction to the administration's Bali delegation? Thank you for going, by the way, to Bali."

JK: "Well, I thought that was really what this conference was about, to be honest with you, so I didn't come with a long list of all of the accomplishments that we have, and they're not all at my fingertips, but I'd be happy to have the staff provide them to you."

"But the Bali conference, in my judgement, is perhaps one of the most important things of all that is taking place at all right now, and it's one of the most important issues we face in the country. We're literally courting disaster and catastrophe without a sense of urgency about it. And I went over there to try to convey to the delegates who are negotiating that things are happening in the congress, that we passed a bill out of the Environment and Public Works Committee that was no small achievement, we passed three major bills out of the Commerce Committee, one on climate change, one on the science of climate change, one on the ocean acidification, and one on adaptation, and I've introduced legislation, which I got Ted Stevens to support with me, for three to five demonstration projects at a commercial scale for carbon sequestration and carbon capture."

"And we wanted to convey to the people in Bali that these things are happening here, that the Democratic Congress is determined to move forward on global climate change and other environmental issues, and show that the United States is not going to continue to be a renegade. I pointed out that in states across the country, from New England, to the midwest to the far west, there are compacts between states which now put over one half of the American economy under emissions reductions -- mandatory emissions reductions. And the private sector is moving rapidly to embrace the idea that we need a cap and trade system."

"So, the bottom line is that I hope they're going to come out with a very strong mandate out of Bali, I am incensed that this administration has made the United States of America the biggest single obstacle to progress in Bali. That's a disgrace, they should be ashamed of themselves for engaging in that kind of procrastination on and issue like this, and I think it's very important for countries to be aware that we take this seriously and that hopefully, help is on the way."

KV: "I read that the European Union is saying they won't attend the administration's talks in
Hawaii."

JK: "I've heard that. And I can understand, they're incensed at the administration's lack of seriousness in this, and they believe that's a detraction from the real track that ought to be coming out of Bali. So, we'll have to see what happens over the next 24 hours of these negotiations, but this is an opportunity for a legacy that the President is clearly passing up,
willfully, and it's once again going to do damage to our reputation on a global basis, unless they change their mind in the next 24 hours."

So, I'll tell you, the countries I met with, I met with China, the Chinese delegation was unbelievably forthcoming, more so than I've seen them at any time in 20 years of attending these efforts, I met with the French delegation, with the European delegation,with the Australian delegation, the small islands delegation, and the Japanese delegation, and we had very good conversations about where we could be heading. So, there's a huge global interest in the United States joining this, and obviously, I hope it's going to do that."

To get a better sense of just how hard the Senator is working to convey to the folks at home and in the rest of the world that there are those in the US who do take Climate Change seriously, watch Senator Kerry's press conference in Bali at the following link:

3:00pm - 3:30pm

US Senator John Kerry

http://www.un.org/webcast/unfccc/2007/index.asp?go=05071210