Union Perspectives

Extra money for low to moderate income families for use of our Commons was almost realty until the lobbyists swarmed Capitol Hill like locust on crops. This rent for our Commons was about to be voted upon as recently as 2009 with President Obama in the White House and Democrats controlling both the Senate and the House—and then the legislative process began …. California Congressman Henry Waxman joined with then Massachusetts’ Congressman Ed Markey, who is now a senator, to draft a climate bill and get it passed. Both congressmen are long-time environmentalists. In 2008, Markey introduced a carbon-capping bill that would have auctioned off 94 percent of the permits and the money made would be divided between low and moderate income families. Markey declared at the time the atmosphere—the air we breathe—is a sacred public trust that belongs to all of us. It is one of our Commons. Its use shouldn’t be used to enrich corporate polluters at citizens’ expense. One year later all that Markey...