how did your Senator vote?

My Dad sent me a copy of this letter. I think it would be withing the spirit of the organization to post it here:

Dear NRDC [National Resource Defence Council] Member,

I wanted to share some terrific news from Capitol Hill.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution that finally recognizes the enormous problem of global warming and declares that our nation must enact mandatory limits on the pollution that causes it. This breakthrough resolution, which was supported by key Republicans and Democrats, sends a clear signal to the White House, which has strongly opposed mandatory cuts.

Without a doubt, this is the biggest leap forward in our global warming campaign in a decade. Last week's vote erases the Senate's 1997 vote against mandatory pollution limits, which the Bush Administration has relied on to justify inaction for the past five years. The Senate has come a long way since then, thanks in part to a relentless advocacy campaign by the NRDC Action Fund that has helped sway many key legislators.

In fact, we played a key role in last week's historic victory. As you know, in past years we've strongly supported the McCain-Lieberman bill, which would force American industry to cut back on global warming pollution. Senators McCain and Lieberman deserve our everlasting gratitude for their passionate pursuit of real action to curb global warming.

Unfortunately, we could not in good conscience support their bill this year because it included a new provision that would have doled out billions of tax dollars for constructing new nuclear power plants. Global warming can be reversed more quickly without new nuclear plants, which take more than a decade to build, pose serious environmental, health and security dangers, and divert resources from more promising technologies.

In the end, the nuclear power provision reduced, rather than increased, Senate support for the McCain-Lieberman bill. As a result, the White House was poised to trumpet the Senate's inaction as an endorsement of the President's "do- nothing" position on global warming.

But at the eleventh hour, the NRDC Action Fund went to work with Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and drafted a "Sense of the Senate" resolution that calls on Congress to enact mandatory limits on global warming pollution by the end of next year. Our resolution quickly won the co-sponsorship of key members of both parties and passed the Senate on a 53-44 vote, putting a majority on record in favor of mandatory pollution limits.

This momentous victory has changed the politics of global warming forever. The world has now heard the Republican-controlled Senate speak loudly and clearly:

The time for action on global warming is now!

Of course, our next great challenge is to translate the Senate resolution into a comprehensive global warming law that we can pass through Congress.

Please make your own voice heard right now. Go to http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/globalwarming/gwvote.asp to see how your Senators voted on last week's resolution. Then take a minute to email or phone them with your thanks or your disappointment -- according to their vote. And urge them to fulfill the promise of this historic resolution by supporting and passing a tough global warming law.

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
NRDC Action Fund