Yay, A Blue-Ribbon Commission: That's Why They Call The Climate Caucus The Climate Peacocks
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Prior to the president’s announcement on Paris, only four Republican caucus members — Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), along with Reps. Ryan Costello, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Patrick Meehan, all from Pennsylvania — agreed to sign a letter urging Trump to keep the U.S. in the popular, nonbinding accord. Seventeen Democratic members of the caucus signed the letter.
Climate activists are getting impatient with the group’s lack of action. “There’s a lot of ink being spilled on how this group is the next great hope of bipartisanship and we’re going to need a bipartisan agreement to get anything done on climate,” said R.L. Miller, co-founder of Climate Hawks Vote, grassroots-funded group that supports candidates and elected officials whom it identifies as making climate change a top priority. “Other than sending out press releases regarding who’s joining, they’re not doing anything.” Most of the Republicans on the caucus “clearly are not climate hawks,” Miller said. “At best, I might call them climate peacocks, as in people who talk a good game but also stand up for the fossil fuel industry,” she said.
One of the caucus’ few accomplishments thus far is the introduction of a bill that would establish a commission of 10 members to conduct a review of public policies and private actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Miller noted that a similar bill calling for the creation of a blue-ribbon commission to study ways to cut emissions “has been kicking around Washington for a few years.” The nation needs action on climate change, not another commission to study it, she argued. The Delaney-Gibson Climate Solutions Commission Act, which would have established a national commission to make recommendations on “how to best reduce non-sequestered greenhouse gas emissions based on the findings of the scientific community,” was introduced in 2016 but failed to pass.
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Six of the Republican members on the caucus have a lifetime LCV rating in the single-digits, with Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) at the bottom of the pack with a 1 percent rating. “You have a wide range of levels of support for climate action among the Republicans who are in the caucus,” LCV’s Taurel said. “It’s fair to conclude that some of them aren’t exactly meeting the standard that they have set for themselves by joining something called the Climate Solutions Caucus, though.”
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Link to tweet
