Page 5 - Nebraska Report January/February 2012

Thank All of Nebraska’s Members

of Congress for Their ‘Yes’ Votes!

by Mark Welsch, Omaha’s NFP Coordinator Take advantage of this opportunity to call your three members
of Congress (MOC). All you have to do is tell them your name,
It is a great day when Nebraskans for Peace, our members, supporters where you live, and then just say “Thank you for your yes vote on
and affiliated organizations can pat ourselves on the back and say the omnibus package that included the BEST Act, USE IT Act and
‘thank you’ to our entire Nebraska Congressional delegation. Today the Climate-Ready Fisheries Act. All of these will help us deal with
is one of those days! Senators Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse, along climate change.” They need to hear only our thanks about this one
with Representatives Adrian Smith, Jeff Fortenberry and Don Bacon bill today. If you want to talk with them about another issue, please
all voted ‘Yes’ on the omnibus bill package. It contained three parts call them a second time to separate the two issues.
that will help climate change issues. We worked to get those parts To get their numbers, and one monthly email or text, to remind
passed into law. you to call them each month, go here: https://cclcalls.org/
NFP has been working closely with Citizens’ Climate Lobby to Here is how to call Nebraska’s MOC:
address the climate change issue since we helped form three chapters
of that organization at our 2012 Annual Peace Conference, where CCL • Senator Deb Fischer 202-224-6551
Executive Director Mark Reynolds was our keynote speaker. With the • Senator Ben Sasse 202-224-4224
passage of the omnibus bus, however, we’re now seeing the tangible • Rep. Adrian Smith 202-225-6435
result of all this work. The article below by CCL’s Communications
Director, Flannery Winchester, provides an overview of the bill and • Rep. Jeff Fortenberry 202-225-4806
describes each of its three component parts. • Rep. Don Bacon 202-225-4155

Three of CCL’s lobbying ‘asks’ pass Congress and become law

by Flannery Winchester, CCL’s tisan climate progress—but the good a key role in getting cosponsors for
Communications Director news doesn’t stop there. Tucked below those bills, which was a factor in them
the encouraging headlines are details of being included in the bigger bill,” says
Just before heading home for the 2020 particular interest to Citizens’ Climate Ben Pendergrass, CCL Senior Director
holidays, the U.S. House and Senate Lobby supporters. of Government Affairs.
passed a massive omnibus package. The package includes the major
The package, which includes COVID provisions from three of CCL’s “sup- Let’s take a closer look at each one:
relief and government funding, is also porting ask” bills: the BEST Act, the
“the most significant energy legislation USE IT Act, and the Climate-Ready BEST Act
in more than a dozen years,” Politico Fisheries Act. “CCL volunteers played CCL began lobbying on the Better
reports. President Trump signed it. Energy Storage Technology (BEST)
“The agreement includes Act in June of 2019. The bill,
sweeping clean energy reforms, which authorizes $300 million
R&D [research and development] over five years to reduce the
enhancements, efficiency incen- cost of grid-scale energy storage
tives, and extends clean energy systems, gained 24 cosponsors
tax credits to create hundreds of following CCL’s June lobby-
thousands of jobs across the clean ing this year. That support was
economy,” Congressional lead- a factor in the BEST Act being
ers announced. “The package also included in the Clean Economy
phases out superpollutant HFCs Jobs and Innovation Act, which
[hydrofluorocarbons], position- the House passed in September.
ing the U.S. to lead the world in
avoiding up to 0.5 degree Celsius conclusion on page 6
of global warming.”
This is fantastic news of bipar-
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 NE REPORT, P. 5