It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame.
It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame.
I think the League of Conservation Voters has become the gold standard for each elected
leaders environmental record. When the scorecard comes out each year, it's almost like getting
your grades from school. And when the 2007 scorecard came out, I immediately looked at
the Illinois delegation. At the top was the record of Senator Barack Obama, and he got
a League of Conservation Voters score last year of 67%, a very good grade. With some
trepidation I looked down the list to see what my score was, and it was 90%, 20 points
better than Obama. And I was very proud to see that I had that kind of a record. LCV
provides quite a lot of backing to make what could be a more controversial decision, much
more popular in my own district.
The League of Conservation Voters is an amazing organization because it includes so many other
organizations, all rowing in the same direction. How do we save this precious earth that God's
given us? How do we respect the environment so that it's going to be a livable environment
for future generations? And without the League of Conservation Voters, I think you would
see some members that would say they care about the environment, but in actual fact
aren't voting that way and aren't working to make sure we have a good environment. Protecting
the earth has many, many aspects and LCV brings it all together. All these different organizations,
all these different interests, because it's not just a matter of protecting public lands
from the damage of mining, or just a matter of cleaning up the earth, but it's not just
a matter of preventing carbon emissions that are changing our very climate. It's all of those things. And LCV brings it all together.
LCV manages year in and year out to choose the critical votes and make Congress pay attention
to them, to rally people from organizations across the environmental community.
And so I expect LCV to go from success to success.
And I'm proud that ever since I came to Congress, I've had a 100% rating by the LCV, one of
very few.
I'm not sure there are other members of Congress with a similar record, and it means a lot
to me.
I'm a big fan of the League of Conservation Voters for two reasons.
First of all, the mission of the League of Conservation Voters is great.
The environmental issues are vital to our country right now.
But also, LCV is a good grassroots, you know, get in the streets and do your political work
organization.
And we are not going to get the environmental improvements we need in this country if people
don't get out there and change some of the people, particularly in the United States
Senate, who have seats now.
We need to get to 60 votes as Democrats in order to push an agenda through against Republican
obstruction.
And we need to make sure that we have voters on both sides of the aisle who are committed
to environmental issues and see them as a priority.
And a great thing that LCV is doing is focusing on global warming, knowing that it's the paramount
issue that's out there.
And the thing that they really understand is it's not only about the United States,
it's about the planet.
And we need to do the things for the planet while we do the things in the United States.
It's going to take all of us working together on this earth to change the way we're moving
to dramatically and boldly move in a new direction.
And LCV is at the forefront of that.
