In response to the news that Bill Posey (R-FL-08), Lynn Jenkins (R-KS-02), and Brett Guthrie (R-KY-02) have joined the Climate Solutions Caucus as the newest climate peacocks, RL Miller of Climate Hawks Vote responds:
“Peacocks on parade are proving to be posers on pollution.”
Posey has opined, as recently as 2014, that global warming is a natural phenomenon, and in November 2017 that the last ice age ended when an asteroid struck the Gulf of Mexico. He is a member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
Shortly after his district was ravaged by Hurricane Irma, his spokesperson told media that it was insensitive to be discussing the connection between climate change and that hurricane. (Presumably, thoughts and prayers were okay.)
In 2016, Posey authored amendment 1261 to HR 5485, prohibiting the Securities & Exchange Commission from enacting regulations regarding disclosure of climate change risks. The amendment passed 230-193 on largely partisan lines.
Jenkins is retiring from Congress. In 2010 she bragged on twitter about cosponsoring a resolution overturning an EPA rule that man-made greenhouse gases are a danger to public health. In 2015, she voted for HR 2042, to block implementation of the Clean Power Plan. She’s consistently voted with her Republican colleagues, against every climate solution proffered by the Obama administration, and with Trump’s rollback of Obama’s agenda.
On a positive note, Jenkins won’t be able to vote against climate solutions come January.
Guthrie uses his perch on the House Energy & Commerce Committee to cosponsor pro-coal, anti-climate bills such as HR. 953, “Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2017” (passed House), HR 806, “Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017” (passed House), H.J. Res. 38, disapproving the stream protection rule (became law), and similar. A 2013 op-ed he wrote wails against Obama’s “war on coal.”
“At some point — and that point has passed — the Climate Solutions Caucus needs to justify its existence. Its proponents point to the caucus’ work in defeating the Perry amendment on July 13, 2017 — nearly a full year ago — to show that it has accomplished some good,” says RL Miller of Climate Hawks Vote. “Since then, the climate peacocks have strutted and multiplied, but failed to act. It’s time for the caucus to disband rather than send out self-congratulatory preening press releases.”
