Religious leaders support reworked U.S. Senate climate-change bill

Published: 2008-05-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Christian and Jewish religious leaders May 21 formally threw their support behind a reworked U.S. Senate bill that addresses environmental climate change. During a media briefing on Capitol Hill, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski -- chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace -- joined bill co-sponsors Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., and John W. Warner, R-Va., and other Christian and Jewish religious leaders to discuss what he called "ground-breaking legislation" that also takes the poor into consideration when combating global warming. "We welcome and support the leadership of these senators in lifting up and seriously addressing how climate change will disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable in our country and around the world," said Bishop Wenski, who heads the Diocese of Orlando, Fla. "This represents a significant advance on previous proposals." The bill -- set to be debated on the Senate floor June 2 -- calls for reductions in U.S. carbon emissions and the development of clean energy technology. It also establishes an International Climate Change Adaptation and National Security Fund expected to generate more than $342 billion over the life of the bill to help developing countries.

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