In advance of UN Climate Action Summit, Senators Stabenow, Carper and Schatz urge the passage of the Scientific Integrity Act to protect public scientific research from unprecedented political attacks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit, U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Tom Carper (D-DE) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) released a dpcc science report outlining the Trump Administration’s efforts to attack science and downplay climate research.
The report documents dozens of instances of the Trump Administration’s attempts to discredit and influence public science with censorship, manipulation, and intimidation. It also releases a comprehensive list of all U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) climate research since January 2017, because the Administration has largely failed to publicize these important studies.
“It is inexcusable that the Trump Administration is jeopardizing our future by systematically attacking public science and undercutting climate research,” said Senator Stabenow. “It’s time for Leader McConnell to stand up for science and pass the Scientific Integrity Act.”
“Today’s report details the troubling extent to which this administration has gone – and will go – to suppress science and undermine the scientific findings of career staff across federal agencies,” said Senator Carper. “This dangerous, willful ignorance manifests itself in major regulatory decisions at this EPA, almost all of which to date has put the interests of polluters over public health. We should not be ‘blinded by science’ – we should be guided by it.”
“Over the last few years, there has been a coordinated assault on science by this White House. Every time the Trump Administration chooses to suppress or to manipulate government science as it relates climate change, they put the American people and the planet at risk,” said Senator Schatz. “Passing the Scientific Integrity Act is one of the many ways that we can answer the call of our times and stand up for science.”
“The work I do as a research economist analyzes the impacts of climate change on U.S. agriculture,” said Dr. Andrew Crane-Droesch, a research economist at the USDA Economic Research Service. “The decision to relocate hundreds of employees like me has affected research on climate change and many other issues that affect farmers and the agricultural economy.”
The DPCC report finds that the Trump Administration has interfered with science across the federal government, including:
In the report, Senator Stabenow, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, released a comprehensive list of more than 1,400 climate change studies authored by USDA researchers during the Trump administration. The Department has largely failed to publicize this type of research. In at least one instance, the Administration actively minimized media coverage of a study on the impact of climate change on rice nutrients. The studies show climate change is affecting agricultural productivity, disrupting how food is grown, and increasing risks to rural communities:
In order to protect public science, the report urges the passage of the Scientific Integrity Act (S.775) to ensure public research remains free from political pressure. The Scientific Integrity Act would: