And so we are in the last 100 days of the lead-up to Copenhagen and it is crunch time in the U.S. for a climate change bill. We have a few months for the Senate to make some kind of bill out of what the House has passed on. Obama is wrapped up in defending and fighting for his version of the healthcare reform bill and legislation right now, preserving the heartbeat of his domestic agenda. What has been asserted by several administration officials is that we, as the U.S., need to have a climate change bill in place so that we have a starting point for the Copenhagen summit.

If not, we will be in a position to react only, or, worse yet, to adapt our position while we are there- and do so without consulting Congress. It’s not in our best interest to go in without a plan so that we can lead and/ or set the agenda/ direction, and it’s also not really in our best interest to just rush something through without debating as long as we need to.

Point being, we are in a bit of a legislative Scylla and Charibdis. That may be a little extreme, but we are in the position where we have to make a decision. Obama wants a climate change bill that makes real change in the way we do business and manufacturing in this country- and he is running into problems with his own party. The Democrats have announced that there will be a delay on the current climate change bill. According to Reuters, the Democrats announced that they will not introduce a climate change bill until “later in September.”

Boo. According to spokesman Jim Manley, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "fully expects the Senate to have ample time to consider this comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation before the end of the year.” Ample time? I don’t know if that’s accurate. And the “end of the year” allows for the Senate to be debating a bill while the Copenhagen Summit is going on. Anything later will be a diplomatic nightmare for whoever is negotiating in Copenhagen.

The House version of the bill will cut carbon emissions by 17% by 2020. The Senate is basically dragging its heels on this one- citing Edward Kennedy’s death and John Kerry’s knee surgery as logistical hurdles to getting the bill introduced sooner rather than later. In addition, some moderate Democrats are siding with the Republican resistance to the climate change bill as is.

The U.S. hasn’t done much, not nearly enough, and is not leading the way in climate change or how to move forward. We did not ratify the Kyoto Agreement, we do not have climate change legislation in place right now, and the other nations of the world are looking at us to see what we will do. What kind of example will we set? Will it be one of too little done in a rush? Running out of time and dropping the ball? Or will we step up, set aside party differences and make some kind of meaningful statement on the way to Copenhagen.

Obama wants a bill, the nations of the world are waiting for one, and the Copenhagen Summit will not work without one.

Do it.