Republicans' Plan While the World Burns? Deny Climate Change Science
Republicans’ Plan While the World Burns? Deny Climate Change Science
Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that if the Trump administration moves forward with their reported plans for a climate change denial panel, Democrats will introduce legislation to defund it. Twelve days ago, Leader Schumer called on Republicans to admit that climate change is real and caused by humans and that Congress needs to act. Instead of working to address the climate crisis, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has announced a cynical stunt, introducing a bill that he plans to vote against.
CONFIRMED: REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO ADMIT CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL – WOULD RATHER PLAY POLITICS AND ADVANCE RADICAL AGENDA WHEN THE CLIMATE CRISIS DEMANDS ACTION.
Bloomberg: Meet the CO2-Praising Physicist Behind the Latest Trump Climate Push. “The man behind a White House proposal to re-evaluate the national security risks of climate change is a physicist who once compared the maligning of carbon dioxide to the ‘demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler.’ William Happer is a National Security Council technology adviser spearheading an initiative to create a presidential committee on climate. He has long drawn scrutiny for insisting that rising carbon dioxide emissions are a boon for the planet, not a danger. Scientists see his proposal as part of a disturbing trend in which the Trump administration elevates ideological opponents of established scientific views.” [Bloomberg, 2/22/19]
Axios: Trump's UN ambassador pick said she supports "both sides" of climate science. “Kelly Knight Craft, the current U.S. ambassador to Canada and President Trump's nominee for ambassador to the UN, endorsed ‘both sides of the science’ when asked about climate change in a 2017 interview with CBC Politics.” [Axios, 2/23/19]
Washington Post: White House To Set Up Panel To Counter Climate Change Consensus, Officials Say. “The White House plans to create an ad hoc group of select federal scientists to reassess the government’s analysis of climate science and counter conclusions that the continued burning of fossil fuels is harming the planet, according to three senior administration officials. The National Security Council initiative would include scientists who question the severity of climate impacts and the extent to which humans contribute to the problem, according to these individuals, who asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.” [Washington Post, 2/24/19]
REPUBLICANS HAVE NO PLAN TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO ADMIT CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL.
Then-Candidate Donald Trump: “I’m not a believer in global warming. And I’m not a believer in man-made global warming. It could be warming, and it’s going to start to cool at some point.” [Hugh Hewitt, 9/21/15]
Donald Trump: “Well, it’s a hoax. I think the scientists are having a lot of fun.” [Fox News, 1/6/14]
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “While lamenting how the Environmental Protection Agency has threatened the coal industry, McConnell on Friday said he doesn't believe in man-made climate change. He said in the 1970s, people feared an ice age was imminent. ‘For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't,’.” [Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/7/14]
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “And he refused to say whether he believes humans are causing global warming, instead bashing the Obama policies to control carbon pollution from power plants. ‘Each side has their scientists, and they can all go in and argue,’ he said.” [Politico, 8/20/14]
Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY): “The climate is constantly changing. The role human activity plays is not known.” [The Hill, 6/5/14]
Former Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK): “Wake up, America. With all the hysteria, all the fear, all the phony science, could it be that manmade global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? I believe it is.” [Floor Remarks, 7/28/03]
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS): “First, there is a weak scientific basis for the cap and trade approach. Science shows that there is an increase of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere. But it has not been compellingly proven that mankind is responsible for the rise in atmospheric CO2, nor is it clear what impact CO2 has on Earth’s temperatures.” [Press Release, 12/14/09]
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS): “My record is very clear on this issue, and I will not change my position based on a political show vote. I agree with the more than 31,000 American scientists who do not believe the science on this matter is settled. Scientific research is advanced by asking questions and allowing for multiple viewpoints. With so much at stake — our economy, our livelihoods, and our environment — we should be tolerant of differences of opinion.” [Clarion Ledger, 1/22/15]
Then-Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “Well, I think that what you have to do is look at what that warming is. And when you look at the fact that we have gone from 320 parts per million 0.032, to 0.040 four hundred parts per million, what you do is realize it’s very slight.” [NBC Meet the Press, 2/16/14]
Then-Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO): “There isn’t any real science to say we are altering the climate path of the earth.” [Human Events, 4/29/09]
Then-Rep. John Boozman (R-AR): “question is what’s causing it. Is man causing it, or, you know, is this a cycle that happens throughout the years, throughout the ages. And you can look back some of the previous times when there was no industrialization, you had these different ages, ice ages, and things warming and things. That’s the question.” [KTHV via ThinkProgress, 3/10/10]
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): “I don’t necessarily think the climate’s changing, no.” [West Virginia Senate Debate via Huffington Post, 10/8/14]
Then-Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): “GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy, who is challenging the incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, claimed during a Tuesday debate in Shreveport, La., that, ‘global temperatures have not risen in 15 years.’” [Washington Examiner, 10/14/14]
Then-Candidate Kevin Cramer (R-ND): “We know the globe is cooling. Number one, we know that. So the idea that CO2 is somehow causing global warming is on its face fraudulent.” [KNOX via Hill Heat, 2/4/12]
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID): “While there is no dispute over the fact that the Earth's climate has changed many times over the planet's history, the underlying cause of these climactic shifts is ultimately not well-understood and is a matter of vigorous debate.” [Official Website via Wayback Machine, 2/21/13]
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY): "I barely made it back here because of a May snowstorm in Wyoming. They got 18 inches in Cheyenne. It's a little hard to convince Wyoming people there's global warming. We have 186% of normal snow pack. That's global warming?" [Wyoming Public Media, 5/16/14]
Then-Candidate Joni Ernst (R-IA): “I don’t know the science behind climate change. I can’t say one way or another what is the direct impact, whether it’s man-made or not.” [KCCI, 9/28/14]
Then-Candidate Deb Fischer (R-NE): “Asked about man-made climate change, Fischer immediately said, ‘I certainly don't support cap-and-trade.’ She said she believes in weather change, but she said she does not believe man has a huge impact on the climate.” [Grand Island Independent, 8/25/12]
Then-Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO): “I believe climate is changing, but I disagree to the extent that’s been in the news that man is changing—.” [MSNBC, 10/8/14]
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): “Well, I’d be foolish if I didn’t give — I’d be foolish if I didn’t give it some consideration because there’s a massive amount of scientists that feel that it does. But there’s also an increasing number of scientists that have doubt about it. And so, not being a scientist, I don’t know exactly where to say only those things that are really quantifiable, and temperature has risen. But the scientific aspect that I still reserving judgment on is the extent to which it’s manmade or natural.” [Conference Call with Reporters via Grist, 8/26/09]
Then-Gov. John Hoeven (R-ND): “Well, the science shows that there is warming. There different opinions to what exactly is the cause of it.” [Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Hearing, 7/21/09]
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI): “No, I absolutely do not believe that the, you know, the science of man – man-caused climate change is proven, not – not by any stretch of the imagination.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/21/16]
Then-Candidate James Lankford (R-OK): “This whole global warming myth will be exposed as what it really is — a way of control more than anything else.’” [Edmond Sun, 2/16/10]
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT): “Climates change. It's what they do. They always have, and they always will.” [Utah Senate Debate via C-SPAN, 10/12/16]
Then-Candidate Rob Portman (R-OH): “‘When you analyze all the data, there is a warming trend according to science,’ he said. ‘But the jury is out on the degree of how much is manmade.’? [Columbus Dispatch, 7/25/10]
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS): “‘There’s no question there’s some global warming, but I’m not sure what it means,’ Roberts said. ‘A lot of this is condescending elitism.” [Topeka Capital-Journal, 8/24/10]
Then-Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL): “Among the politicians who refuse to acknowledge climate change is Gov. Scott. During his first campaign for governor in 2010, Scott told reporters who asked about his views on climate change that he had ‘not been convinced,’ and that he would need ‘something more convincing than what I’ve read.’ In 2014, Scott said he ‘was not a scientist’ when asked about his views on climate change.” [Miami Herald, 5/8/15]
Then-Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL): “Clearly our environment changes all the time, and whether that’s cycles we’re going through or whether that’s man-made, I wouldn’t be able to tell you which one it is.” [Politico, 9/14/17]
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL): “Asked about the debate over global warming, Shelby said, ‘we should listen to the scientists,’ although he did say there is a possibility that the current warming trend is part of a natural cycle.” [Tuscaloosa News via Shelby’s Official Website, 2/21/07]
Then-Candidate Thom Tillis (R-NC):
MODERATOR: Is climate change a fact? […]
TILLIS: No. [North Carolina Senate Debate via BuzzFeed, 4/22/14]
Then-Candidate Pat Toomey (R-PA): "There is much debate in the scientific community as to the precise sources of global warming.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/14/10]
SENATE REPUBLICANS HAVE REPEATEDLY VOTED AGAINST RECOGNIZING THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL AND CAUSED BY HUMANS.
In the 114th Congress, the Senate repeatedly voted on measures which stated climate change is real and caused by human activities. Each and every time, the vast majority of Republicans voted no. [114th Congress, 1st Session, RCV 11; RCV 12; RCV 15; RCV 16; RCV 89; RCV 115]
SENATE REPUBLICANS HAVE BROUGHT ZERO BILLS TO THE FLOOR TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE – BUT AGAIN AND AGAIN, REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED TO UNDERMINE CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS.
Republicans voted to undermine the government’s ability to protect our water from mountaintop mining pollutants. [115th Congress, 1st Session, RCV 43]
Republicans voted to roll back an Obama administration rule meant to combat climate change by curbing harmful methane emissions. Senate Democrats defeated the measure. [115th Congress, 1st Session, RCV 125]
Republicans voted to repeal fundamental aspects of the Clean Water Act related to vessel discharges, which safeguards streams, lakes, and wetlands from pollution and destruction. Senate Democrats successfully blocked this harmful attempt to remove protections for our nation’s bodies of water. [115th Congress, 2nd Session, RCV 77]
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