Two key senators offered and passed a resolution on Thursday that calls for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to hand over power to a caretaker government.
The resolution offered by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also call for elections and urges that Egypt’s military demonstrate “maximum professionalism and restraint” in working to restore order.
In a floor speech, McCain warned that the situation in Egypt could turn into a “genuine massacre.”
“We cannot afford that, and we must do everything in our power to see that it stops,” McCain said. “This is a seminal moment in the history of the Middle East and the world. We are seeing an uprising and a movement that spread across the entire Middle East.”
McCain called for Mubarak to give up power on Wednesday following a meeting at the White House with President Obama.
Protests in the streets of Cairo on Thursday were violent for a second day in a row as forces loyal to and against Mubarak’s government battled in the streets.
Kerry said all stakeholders in Egypt must respect human rights.
“We urge the parties involved to take every step possible to avoid violence and to respect the rights of the people in Egypt to assemble, to express their rights, to fight for and demonstrate for a transition in their lives and in their country,” said Kerry.
This is the first resolution to be offered by any senators on the crisis in Egypt. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) quickly joined as cosponsors.
The Senate passed the resolution by unanimous consent Thursday night.
1. Do you think a dictator with a 30 year run cares what these ass-clowns think?
2. I wonder how much more pissed the Egyptian people will be when they hear of this arrogance.
3. When will the U.S. Federal Government understand that they aren’t all that and that they can’t just do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want?
Such a catchy name for such a nasty bill. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Senate version of Cap and Tax to Death. The first 820 pages have been lined out, but that leaves 937 pages to read. We must all saddle up once more to stop this newest progressive attempt at creating yet another revenue stream for the elites that will cripple this country.
The senate is starting up the drive for the climate change bill. Well, I guess if you are the dems and you know that your WH is crashing like a bunch of drunk teenagers that just wrapped dad’s car around a tree, and the real tsunami of “change” is coming full force at you in the 2010 elections; then you try to shove through as much crappy legislation as you can as a basis for the next time the country goes off it’s rocker and elects a socialist, marxist, communist, wannabe president.
Senate Democrats are looking to restart momentum for climate legislation, which has taken a backseat to healthcare.
The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee next week opens debate on the Kerry-Boxer bill with three hearings over three days in which more than 50 witnesses are scheduled to testify.
Not much has happened since the House passed its climate bill in late June on a tight vote, but Senate Democrats hope to make progress on one of the administration’s highest priorities before global climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
One marathon session set for Thursday on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act will include 22 witnesses on four panels. That follows two days of hearings, the first of which will receive testimony from the secretaries of the departments of Energy, Transportation and the Interior and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
On Friday, climate watchers were waiting for a revised version of the climate bill co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who is the chairwoman of the Senate EPW Committee. The revision was expected to provide more detail about how valuable pollution allowances companies will have to hold under the cap-and-trade mechanism would be divided.
