After years of being wasteland of denial , the House Science Committee is once again a serve physical structure hold hearings on clime change that do n’t make your brainiac hurt .
On Wednesday , the committee held its first hearing since Democrats hire over the House . The hearing was focus on clime change , and it featured five scientist whose views are well within the mainstream , including one shout out by the new Republican minority . And while questions betray that there ’s a large ideologic gap for how to deal with clime change ( there were also a few oddball question ) , the hearing was still infinitely more constructive than those held under thenow - retired Lamar Smith .
The House Science Committee was a bottomless pit of sadness when Republicans controlled it . Lamar Smith oversaw a citizens committee bulk that wasvirulently anti - science , hostile to scientists , and prostrate to tweet out propaganda . Then in the nonage , Democratscalled the committee“completely unenviable , ” “ dangerous ” and used atmosphere quotes around the word “ skill . ” When Democrats took over the committee after being swept into power by last yr ’s midterms , newly - minted chair Eddie Bernice Johnson chop-chop put climate change on the order of business to show the commission washeading in a new guidance .
New House Science Committee Chair to Climate scientist : We ’ve Got Your Back Again
That new counselling was on exhibit Wednesday . Democrats called Bob Kopp , Jennifer Francis , Kristie Ebi , Natalie Mahowald , clime expert in dissimilar field from Rutgers , Woods Hole , the University of Washington , and Cornell severally . They take on seats that Lamar Smith and the Republican majority used to fill with cranks and deniers . That ’s barely surprising , though . Republicans shoot a big measure , however , by calling Joseph Majkut , a climate scientist from the libertarian - leaning Niskanen Center whose view are in line with his peers . That the nonage hollo him should not be news and yet it is .
also , there were no big news import in the closet conference because the inquiring for the most part focalize on clime science and vim insurance as oppose to debating nonsense that was a earmark of the Smith earned run average . That ’s not say some holdovers did n’t carry the Lamar Smith mantle forward .
Representative Mo Brooks — noted for ask if fall rocks wereresponsible for sea level riseat a earshot last class ( they ’re not)—asked some more oddball questions on historic sea levels . And Representative Brian Babin expect a hard to follow question about Greenland settlements and whether it ’s “ more advantageous to have a trivial warming going on around the orb or a little temperature reduction around the globe ? ” But where previously there would be some fringe ideologist to take these questions and run with them , they were pretty much swatted away by all parties including the viewer Republicans called .
“ We ’ve built our companionship around temperature we happen over the last 200 , 300 years , ” Majkut enunciate in response to Babin ’s interrogation about whether global warming might be a good thing . “ We ’re changing that . ”
It ’s no wonder Democrats on the committee were let the cat out of the bag the praises of the Modern surround .
“ For geezerhood , we found ourselves wasting time arguing with non - technical witnesses , ” Representative Bill Foster , until latterly the only science PhD in Congress , say at one stop . “ I ’m thrilled to see some of the variety happening with this commission . ”
While most penis of the committee fit in on the science , the hearing did reveal that theGreen New Deal , the reform-minded proposal to quickly transition the U.S. off fossil fuel , continues to be aflashpoint between the political party . There were a few jokes about moo-cow wind that have become acentral GOP talk full stop , but many Republican committee penis enquire more pointed questions about how mesomorphic the Union governance should be in setting climate policy and targets or binding those with popular progressive policies like individual payer healthcare and a living wage .
Republicans were also keen on cipher out how the Union government activity could help extend the shelf life of fossil fuels , asking numerous questions about atomic number 6 capture and warehousing , federal investments in technology , and how to get low - carbon options from carbon gaining control to next generation nuclear world power to marketplace . That ’s not wholly at odds with the Green New Deal , which refers to clean and zero - discharge sources of energy , but Republicans intelligibly have unlike ideas of how to get there ( though nowhere close to even a set of loose policy proposition for how to do so ) . Republicans also balked about how much it would cost to cover mood change , though Kopp remind the commission that the cost of inaction is much in high spirits .
Ironically , we might not even be discussing the Green New Deal if it was n’t for years of Republican - led inaction , some of it spearhead by this very committee . So while it was cheer to see actual policy questions about mood alteration address at Wednesday ’s audition , it also dish as a sad reminder of all the meter that ’s been waste and the want for Congress to get its act together presently .
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