Senate GOP blocks formation of climate change committee
Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a resolution that would form a Senate committee on climate change.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) tried to get unanimous consent to pass the resolution to create the new Senate panel, arguing it’s the “very least” senators could do to combat climate change.
“The committee could be partners with the House committee, and we might actually get something done, not sham votes that everyone knows are a joke, a political joke. And so I am hopeful we can do that,” Schumer said.
But Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee and a member of GOP leadership, argued that creating a climate change committee would “essentially try to strip” his panel of its jurisdiction over the policy.
{mosads}”This resolution … is an attempt by the Democrats to once again duck and dodge and distant themselves from the Green New Deal,” Barrasso added.
Under Senate rules, any one senator can try to pass a bill or resolution, but any one senator can also block their request.
Democrats announced earlier this month that they wanted the Senate to create a committee specifically focused on climate change in an effort to sync up with House Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who created a new panel earlier this year.
The floor drama comes as the Senate rejected the progressive Green New Deal on Tuesday, in a 0-57 vote with 43 Democratic senators voting present.
Republicans have seized on the progressive resolution as they hunt for 2020 fodder, arguing it’s the latest sign of Democrats shifting to the left ahead of the election. But Democrats counter that they’ve been able to use the debate over the climate changes resolution to put Republicans on defense.
In addition to wanting to create a climate change committee, Democrats have introduced their own resolution stating that climate changes is real, that human activity is the main cause and that Congress should take action to combat it. Republicans also blocked that resolution on Tuesday.
Schumer added on Tuesday that he was “gratified” that a growing number of GOP senators say they believe in climate change. But, he argued, that lawmakers should “do something real” to combat it.
“The senator mentioned a few bills – I’s be happy to look at them. I hope he’ll look at ours and I hope he’ll ask this leader, his leader, the Republican Leader, to allow an open debate on the floor with amendments,” Schumer said. “We’d welcome that.”
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