This week, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., the chairwoman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, urged the GOP to keep that committee when it takes over the chamber in January.
Bloomberg and The Hill reported last week that the Republican leadership intends to scrap the select committee.
“We don’t see a scenario where the ‘Climate Crisis Committee,’ a creature of Pelosi, will continue to exist,” the office of U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., who leads Republicans on the committee, told The Hill. “Garret is committed to delivering on the energy components of the Commitment to America and will be intimately involved in making sure that happens.”
Castor insisted that would be a mistake.
“House Republicans ignore the climate crisis to the detriment of America. It’s baffling that the GOP has no plan to address the rising costs and escalating impacts of climate change. Their inaction and lockstep alliance with polluters are exacting a toll on everyday Americans, farmers, and communities alike – making it harder to afford basics like water, electricity and energy,” said Castor. “Republicans seem eager to go down a path of increasing sweltering hot days, gutting clean air protections, padding the profits of Big Oil, and refusing to take a serious look at the cost-cutting potential of clean energy.
“Ignoring the climate crisis is not an option for the millions of Americans whose lives have been devastated by floods, wildfires, and destructive superstorms like Katrina, Sandy, Maria, and Ian. And Republicans who continue to ignore the devastating impacts of climate-fueled disasters do so at their own peril. Millions of young Americans whose lives have been shaped by climate anxiety are now old enough to vote, with some of them already even running for office. I trust that they will hold Republicans accountable for any attempts to move America back to the past century, as will the millions of Americans whose communities will benefit from the cost-saving clean energy investments in our Inflation Reduction Act,” she added. “It’s way past time for Republicans to take the climate crisis seriously.”
