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LCV Lifetime Score: 96%

Kerry's Scorecard Page

Latest on the Issues

On the Bush Administration

"In fact, I think the person who has to worry about coming down to the South and campaigning is President George Bush, who's had 36 months of sustained loss of manufacturing jobs, who has ignored health care, who's turned his back on the schools in the South and who is fundamentally the worst administration in modern history with respect to the environment." (South Carolina Debate, 1/29)

"The governors of the country have come up with a smart program about so-called red zones with respect to forests. And this administration has ignored it. And they've gone the other way, by opening up forests to greater destruction, greater logging. We need to have a responsible environmental leadership in this country. This is the worst environmental presidency in modern history of our country and they're going backwards on clean air, backwards on clean water, backwards on forests, flood insurance. I wrote the flood insurance laws of the country. We've improved it. There's a lot more we can do. And we need a president who's going to do that." (NPR Debate, 1/6/04)

"Taken together, George Bush's environmental policies add up to the worst record of any president in our lifetimes," Kerry said. (Reuters, 11/12/03)

“When big oil says jump, George Bush’s only question is “how high?” But when New Hampshire families look for a fair break and some straight talk, all they get is the cold shoulder. New Hampshire’s Attorney General acted to get Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco, and other big oil companies to pay up for the damage they caused. But Tom DeLay and other Republicans in Washington have bent over backwards to shield these polluters from justice and force taxpayers to foot the bill. New Hampshire – and families like Lisa and Randy Denuccio’s – shouldn’t have to pay the price for Tom DeLay’s pandering.” (Press Release, 11/7/03)

Kerry stressed the need for a renewed commitment to environmental causes and clean water efforts. “George Bush is not funding water treatment," Kerry declared. (Boston Globe, 11/6/03)

"Investigators have conclusively determined that special interests and wealthy contributors played a decisive role in crafting the Administration's energy policy in 2001. But instead of yet another veil of secrecy, the people of this country deserve to know which special interest groups met with the White House and wrote this nation's energy policy. Instead of presiding over another blackout, this time of information the American people have a right to know, it's time finally came clean and released detailed information about who exactly the Administration met with and what they got in return." (Press Release, 8/26/03)

"The President has literally pulled the rug out from under every Governor's efforts to curb air pollution and he's penalizing families in the Northeast victimized by cross state air pollution. Pollution from power plants in the Midwest pours down as acid rain on New Hampshire and across New England. The President's own scientists admit that two-thirds of Americans have an increased risk of cancer from toxic pollutants, including mercury emissions from power plants. But when push comes to shove, this Administration takes the side of polluters over the public health of millions of Americans. We don't just need a new EPA Administrator, we need a new President who will keep his promise to protect clean air and we need to get rid of the biggest say one thing and do another President we've ever seen." (Press Release, 8/22/03)

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), another presidential aspirant, said, "Frankly, I don't have high hopes" for a nominee [for EPA Administrator] that would be acceptable to Democrats. (Roll Call, 7/14/03)

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said lack of funding is "emblematic of the environmental priorities of the Bush Administration." Kerry, who is running for president, added that Fairhaven residents shouldn't have to live with cyanide and PCBs because the administration can't find the money. (Associated Press, 7/17/03)

"Unfortunately, the reality of this 'national picture' is bleak. It includes: dirtier air because the Bush Administration has relaxed the laws governing polluting power plants; unhealthy drinking water because the Bush Administration has gutted important provisions in the Clean Water Act; and more dangerous toxic waste sites in our communities because the Bush Administration refuses to make polluters pay to clean them up. What good does it do us when the person in the White House only listens to corporate polluters and big money instead of protecting human health and the environment? If the Bush Administration wouldn't even allow the draft report to be released without first omitting important, science-based findings on climate change, I'm at a loss to understand how any of the findings in this report will ever be translated into meaningful action." (Press Release, 6/23/03)