>>That said, I would like congress to take up the matter of clean air and water directly, instead of this cowering behind other agencies after abdicating of their duties.

Exactly - put them on the record voting for or against whatever they want - and the voters can vote to replace or keep those people based on how they actually voted - right now they all like to give speeches, raise money and not much else - congress, do your job, even if it costs you your job.

Then they would have to tackle financial regulation reform, and that isn't in the interests of anyone in Washington or Wall Street---and likely not within their wheelhouse of competence. The fed and various people throughout the financial industry and private citizens have been begging for specific regulations for decades now.

Except this is a complete straw man in the current political reality. Climate change legislation will never get a single Republican vote, and we all know it. And they will never be held accountable for that because the people that vote for them are either uninformed or misinformed about climate change, by the same forces that influence congress!

Legislating is an exercise in compromise. There are plenty of Republicans who would vote for certain elements of climate change legislation in exchange for getting other things they want.