Wednesday, November 07, 2018

With Democratic Majority, Climate Change Is Back on U.S. House Agenda

Fossil fuel supporters will still control the Senate, but the House will soon be able to turn a spotlight on climate change and Trump's retreat from responsibility.


Nancy Pelosi, currently the House minority leader, is in line to regain the speakership and has promised to revive the select committee on climate change that the GOP eliminated when it seized control of the House in 2010. Credit: Zach Gibson/Getty Images) Click to Enlarge.
With their win of control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats will now have the numbers to put climate change issues back on the Congressional agenda.

But the Republicans reinforced their firewall against any legislative efforts in the Senate by gaining at least two new members with poor records on confronting the climate crisis.  That bolsters the power of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to block any measures unfavorable to the fossil fuel industries.

In the states, a pair of ballot initiatives that would have cut climate pollution—in Colorado and Washington—appeared to be headed for defeat after heavy spending by fossil fuel interests that opposed them.  But some incoming governors have pledged more aggressive support for clean energy.

And in one House race after another, Republicans who have been out of step with the prevailing scientific consensus on climate change were replaced by Democrats committed to taking action.

Read more at With Democratic Majority, Climate Change Is Back on U.S. House Agenda

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