As climate change disasters ravage our nation, House GOP slashes funding to address it
GOP puts wealthy donors over the rest of us!
“Heat Records Are Broken Around the Globe as Earth Warms, Fast”
“Earth's average global temperature in June was 1.89 degrees above average, making it the hottest June in the 174-years global climate record.”
“More than 2,300 heat records have fallen from Florida to California this summer.”
“Wildfires raged on for yet another week in Canada, having burned a staggering 25 million acres so far this year…With more than a month of peak fire season to go, 2023 has already eclipsed Canada’s annual record from 1989.”
“Surface temperatures in the North Atlantic have hit "unprecedented" temperatures, marking the highest since ocean temperatures were recorded beginning in 1850.”
And the worst is yet to come: Raúl García, vice president of policy and legislation at Earthjustice, stated Wednesday, “Climate change is fueling devastating storms, floods, and heat waves across large parts of the country while coastal communities anxiously await a hurricane season that has yet to reach its peak.”
So how did the House GOP respond to all of this? On Wednesday, the GOP controlled House Appropriations committee voted for sweeping funding cuts for the Environmental Protection Agency and other programs designed to address climate change--while at same time boosting development of the very fossil fuels driving the environmental disasters that have ravaged the Northern Hemisphere this year.
This is akin to not just ending funding to a fire department in the middle of a massive fire but actually dumping more flammable liquids into the fire.
Just look at some of the provisions of the bill approved with only GOP votes on Wednesday. They approved a massive 39% cut to EPA’s budget — which would put the agency at its lowest level since 1991—thus, starving “the agency meant to protect our health from polluting industries.” Along with the crippling cuts to EPA, the bill seeks to restrict the agency’s authority to regulate certain pollutants and would rescind clean-water protections that the EPA finalized late last year.
The GOP also targeted three agencies within the Interior Department — the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service — for monster reductions in funding.
The House GOP is also seeking to reverse Biden and the Democrats climate change funding that was a central part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). As Earthjustice—a nonprofit public interest environmental law organization-- explained, the GOP voted to eliminate $7.8 billion in funding for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund which is focused on implementing “zero-emissions technologies in historically marginalized communities to help facilitate their transition to clean energy, fight climate change, and create new green jobs.”
In addition, the bill would cut $1.4 billion in IRA grants specifically created to address environmental health impacts in underserved communities that predominately include communities of color and those of low-income.
And as Earthjustice warned, the GOP bill would, “Block clean energy development while opening more public lands and waters to dirty fossil fuel and mining projects.” One provision specifically flagged “mandates oil and gas lease sales in the Western Gulf of Mexico and Alaska and requires the Interior Department to conduct quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales, deepening our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels.”
There was a time decades ago that the GOP actually worked to protect our environment in a bipartisan fashion. But that has changed dramatically since the 1990’s. Surveys from the Pew Research Center document how a partisan divide over environmental policy grew over that time to a massive chasm. Today nearly 80 percent of Democrat view climate change as a “major threat” compared to only 23 percent of Republicans.
What caused the GOP to become increasingly hostile to addressing climate change? Simple: Money. Claudine Schneider, a GOP member of Congress from 1981-1991, bluntly told NPR in 2019: The GOP “have been bought off by the fossil fuel industry.” She added, “There’s a reason there's the phrase ‘follow the money.’ Because if you do, you will see that the voting correlates with those major contributors to the Republican party, and most of them happen to be in the fossil fuel regions of our country.”
That view is backed up by many sources, including a 2020 report by the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis. That report specifically pointed to the GOP controlled U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision as playing a big role. That horrific ruling allowed corporations and wealthy donors to effectively pour unlimited amounts of cash into campaigns. Soon fossil-fuel companies funneled money to candidates via front groups—such as Super PACs—that conceal their donors.
As the Senate report noted, it was after this influx of large sums of money where “bipartisan activity on comprehensive climate legislation collapsed.” (Among the top twenty recipients of oil and gas money in 2022 cycle, 17 were Republicans—although “Democrat” Joe Manchin topped the list.)
But it’s not just the oil giants that are working to oppose climate change proposals. Research by the Center for Media and Democracy found a long list of nonprofit charities—ranging from mainstream money managers to private, right-wing foundations—that are amongst the biggest funders of climate change denial. As the report found: “Among the “Dirty Dozen” climate denial financiers are foundations established by the right-wing Bradley, Koch, Mercer, Searle, and Scaife families.” Adding, “The Kochs, Mercers, and other Republican megadonors pour additional money into political groups and electoral campaigns focused on electing right-wing candidates who oppose meaningful action on climate change and often support expanding and deregulating the fossil fuel industry.”
The reason here is also money. Less climate related regulations, the more the corporations can reap profits—regardless of the impact on the environment.
And in the end result is that Americans—and many across the world--are experiencing extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, drought and death. Experts tell us we can soon expect a spike in environmental refugees--both outside our nation and within--as areas become inhabitable. It’s like the Old Testament come to life.
We—Democrats, Republicans and everyone else—are facing the prospect of an increasingly brutal world plagued by increased climate catastrophes. It’s why President Biden repeated in a speech last week in Europe at the NATO summit a theme he has hit on many times before: “We all must summon the common will to address the existential threat of accelerating climate change…It is the the single greatest threat to humanity.”
To address this, President Biden created in 2021 a National Climate Task Force with goal of reducing greenhouse gases, carbon pollution and emissions that contribute to extreme climate conditions—while also creating jobs in this sector. And the Biden/Democratic championed Inflation Reeducation Act and Infrastructure legislation includes robust funding to achieve these very goals.
Meanwhile the GOP is doing what they always do: Cater to their wealthy donors at the expense of the rest of us.
The 2024 election could not get here soon enough!
Deano, your passion is unparalled. I love your daily rants backed by solid fact and professional journalistic integrity!
Good to see you on the main stage with the heavy players. KUTGW.
You are truly an asset to this country, its people and our democracy!
It's always great seeing you on Thom Hartmann!