VICTORY OVER THE BUSH DIRTY SKIES BILL!!
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
NRDC Action Fund

We won! Earlier today, the Senate Environment Committee deadlocked 9-9 over President Bush's so-called Clear Skies bill, which means it will die in committee. One Republican and one Independent joined seven Democrats in voting against the bill. This is a huge victory over a terrible piece of legislation -- crafted by some of America's biggest polluters -- that would have taken a devastating toll on our health, our families and our environment.

I cannot thank NRDC's Members enough for the tens of thousands of messages you sent your senators on this issue. In the weeks leading up to this critical vote, we kept the pressure on the Senate through an all-out campaign of grassroots activism, paid advertising and intensive lobbying. I can tell you firsthand that your online activism helped make the difference. This is a great day for clean air, but it is much more than that, too. By blocking one of the worst pieces of anti-environmental legislation in the new Congress, we've sent President Bush a message loud and clear that he's in for a tougher fight than he bargained for. We will not let him steamroll his pro- industry agenda over the American people.

The president won't back down, of course, and you can be sure we haven't heard the end of his dirty skies bill. Its proponents could try to revive it in committee, or use a procedural trick to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote, or simply attach it as a "rider" to a spending bill. But the NRDC Action Fund will remain vigilant, and you'll be alerted if this bill rears its ugly head again. In the meantime, I hope you'll join me in celebrating this hard-won victory in defense of clean air. And thank you again for helping make it happen!

P.S. If you want to learn more about how the Clear Skies bill would threaten our health and environment, go to:
http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/cleanair/wacmoreinfo.asp?item=52456

FROM THE WEBSITE "THINK PROGRESS" COMES THIS COMMENTARY ON BUSH'S RECENT, CHOREOGRAPHED VISIT TO AN ALABAMA TOWNHALL

The Remarkable Ringer ... There was a remarkable exchange during President Bush’s meticulously choreographed townhall meeting in Alabama yesterday. One of the people selected to speak with Bush was a woman named Sarah Garrison Webster. It’s clear that she was chosen because she is a federal employee who is eligible for the federal Thrift Savings Plan, a program that gives federal employees the option of putting some of their retirement money into stocks. Ms. Webster was supposed to be Exhibit A on how much people love to invest their retirement money in stock funds. It didn’t go exactly according to plan:

THE PRESIDENT: Let me ask you something about the Thrift Savings Plan. This is a Thrift Savings Plan that has a mix of stocks and bonds?
MS. WEBSTER: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, how hard was that to learn how to do that?
MS. WEBSTER: And I chose the safe plan, government bonds. (Laughter.)

In other words, Ms. Webster has no interest in risking her retirement money in the stock market. Bush’s privatization plan is so unpopular now, he can’t even find ringers who are interested.