One of the most irresponsible positions of this Republican-led Congress has been to sabotage any effort to deal with global climate change and the greenhouse gas emissions that clearly contribute to it. On two occasions the GOP has succeeded in sticking riders on appropriations measures that ban action by the Clinton Administration, however mild or limited, to implement the 1997 Kyoto treaty on climate change negotiated by a team led by Vice President Al Gore.

While the federal government can and should move quickly on both the domestic and international fronts to show U.S. leadership on this issue (as Jon Naimon and Debra Knopman argued last year in their Progressive Policy Institute paper, "Reframing the Climate Change Debate") there are ways that government and business leaders outside the Beltway can make progress until Congress gets its head out of the sand or gets new leadership.

Several state governments have shown the leadership that Congress has so far failed to exercise.

• In 1997, Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon signed the first law in the nation to set carbon dioxide standards for new energy facilities. The law also set up measurement tools to track actual greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
• Gov. Tom Carper's administration in Delaware is in the process of preparing a comprehensive greenhouse gas action plan for that state, including an inventory of carbon dioxide emissions and recommendations for greater energy efficiency.
• In April of this year, Gov. Christine Whitman announced New Jersey's formal commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 3.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2005.

Local government leaders are also moving forward on climate change. In September 1999, more than 530 local officials issued a "Statement on Global Warming" urging accelerated action on every level. Sixty-six U.S. cities have joined the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives' Climate Protection Campaign. This group's agenda includes baseline surveys of greenhouse gas emissions in participating cities, local targets for emissions reductions, and public education.

Just as importantly, business executive are getting into the act. The non-profit Pew Center on Global Climate Change has enlisted 27 major corporations in a Business Environmental Leadership Council focused on practical progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This group's statement of principles begins with a simple acknowledgment of the problem: "We accept the views of most scientists that enough is known about the science and environmental impacts of climate change for us to take actions to address its consequences."

We wish Congressional Republicans could agree to this statement and accept responsibility for moving forward on a national climate change policy and an international negotiating position. Until such time as they do, we are pleased that other actors are doing what they can, and we urge all New Democrats in state and local governments and the business community to do likewise.