Chamber Of Commerce Tells Senate They Are Willing To Work On Climate Change

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

The United States Chamber of Commerce emailed a letter Tuesday to the heads of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works during the markup of the Kerry-Boxer climate change bill, stating that the business lobby is willing to work with the committee to address climate change.

The letter, sent by R. Bruce Josten, Executive Vice President for Government Affairs, stated that “climate change is an important issue for this Congress to address, the chamber stands ready to work with Congress to resolve this issue in a bipartisan matter. It’s not whether to do something, but how.”

The chamber urged the committee to take important steps to bridge the political and geographical divide that prevented the similar efforts to pass effective climate change legislation in past years.

“This really is a game changer… If the Chamber of Commerce that has long opposed climate change is now saying [this] in their first sentence this is a tremendous signal,” said Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Boxer declined to put the letter on record until they could authenticate it.

The politically charged prank troupe “Yes Men” recently held a fake press conference posing as members of the Chamber of Commerce in which they stated the organization supports climate change legislation.