For Immediate Release:
November 2, 2009

Contact: David Willett, 202-675-6698

What's Your Excuse?
Sierra Club Offers 10 "Excuses" for Skipping Markup of the Clean Energy Jobs Bill

Washington, DC: As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee prepares to begin marking up the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, the Republican members of the committee have indicated they will refuse to show up for work and boycott the meetings.

The Sierra Club is distressed that these Senators are unwilling to sit down and work on this important plan for less pollution, more jobs and greater security.

The Sierra Club openly wondered what these Senators might be doing that is more important than finishing work on this historic bill and so suggested these Top Ten Possible Excuses for not showing up for work on the Clean Energy Jobs bill:

10. They are hiding in the attic with balloon boy.
9. They are allergic to wind.
8. They had to prep for a conference denying climate science.
7. They got lost hiking the Appalachian Trail.
6. They were swimming, Scrooge McDuck-style, through swimming pools filled with Big Oil and Coal money.
5. They had choir practice for the Chorus of No’s.
4. Rush told them not to go.
3. They had to hold up some more judicial nominees.
2. They actually oppose a Clean Energy Jobs bill that would put America back in charge of its economic and energy future.
1. They had a pre-existing condition.

Sierra Club will be inviting readers to submit their own excuses for missing work at Speedbumps, a new group in Sierra Club's online community Climate Crossroads focusing obstructionist efforts to weaken the bill.

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