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View the ad criticizing Rep. Brad Ashford (D, NE-2) here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) today launched a Facebook ad campaign criticizing Rep. Brad Ashford (D, NE-2) for his votes last week in favor of the Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval that would permanently block the Clean Power Plan, S.J. Res. 23 & 24. The Facebook ad is targeted to his district, and will run for over one week.
“Rep. Ashford has chosen to put polluters’ profits ahead of the health of Nebraska’s families,” said Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters. “He voted to deny his constituents the critical benefits of the Clean Power Plan. These safeguards will create jobs, grow Nebraska’s economy, and protect public health.”
“These votes were an opportunity to take a stand to meet the challenge of climate change head on and put the health of our families ahead of polluters’ profits,” continued Gene Karpinski. “With the momentum behind the international climate negotiations in Paris, this was nothing more than a last-ditch attempt to undermine the negotiations, and it will ultimately fail. These bills were a desperate and reckless effort to deny the American people the public health and economic benefits of the Clean Power Plan. Fortunately, the President has already made clear he will veto them.”
On August 3rd, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the Clean Power Plan, the first national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants. At the same time, the EPA released the final carbon pollution reduction standards for new and modified power plants. Power plants are the single largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S., and these safeguards are the single biggest step we have ever taken to combat climate change. At the same time, carbon pollution is a public health concern and damages our economy. The Clean Power Plan has been embraced by a broad and diverse set of stakeholders—including utilities, public health experts, clean energy advocates and others. On November 17th, the Senate voted on and passed two Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval, S.J. Res. 23 and S.J. Res. 24 that would not only block these common sense carbon pollution standards, but prevent the EPA from ever issuing “substantially similar” rules in the future. On December 1st, the House of Representatives voted on and passed both S.J. Res. 23 and S.J. Res. 24. Reps. Bob Dold (R, IL-10), Paul Tonko (D, NY-20), Kathy Castor (D, FL-14), Ted Lieu (D, CA-33), Frank Pallone (D, NJ-6) and Hank Johnson (D, GA-4) voted NAY on both. Reps. Brad Ashford (D, NE-2), Frank Guinta (R, NH-1), Bruce Poliquin (R, ME-2), Mike Coffman (R, CO-6), Dave Reichert (R, WA-8), and Cresent Hardy (R, NV-4) voted YAY on both.
The ads criticizing Rep. Brad Ashford (D, NE-2) are part of a larger campaign holding Members of Congress accountable for their votes on S.J. Res. 23 & 24. This follows another LCV ad campaign launched before Thanksgiving, holding Senators accountable for their votes in favor of these resolutions.
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