Climate Solutions Caucus Nears Finalizing Letter For House Leaders To Talk About Future Talks . . .

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It’s a lofty goal that has yet to be tested in the current Congress, and one that has been tried before, with mixed results. But Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) are bullish on their chances now to have success. On Friday, they will relaunch the House Climate Solutions Caucus under new leadership, seeking to revitalize the group first established in 2016 that has largely languished since 2018. “I’d like us to be active in discussions” on climate legislation, said Garbarino, who sat with Houlahan for a joint interview with E&E News on Thursday afternoon. “Whatever climate bill that’s going to come out and become law, it’s going to have Republicans and Democrats; I think we could actually do some really good legislation and get it passed.”

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Neither was specific Thursday on what sorts of bills or policies they want the caucus to consider, with Garbarino predicting the agenda will be “member driven.” They will start, they said, by inserting themselves into the ongoing debate over how to fix the nation’s permitting process, where regulatory red tape is stalling critical energy projects around the country. Garbarino and Houlahan said they are close to finalizing a letter to House Republican and Democratic leadership expressing the interest of the Climate Solutions Caucus to engage in discussions on how to move forward legislatively. They also plan to engage with the Senate Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus; the House lawmakers celebrated the impending relaunch of their caucus Wednesday at a reception with their Senate counterparts.

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Curbelo and Deutch established the House Climate Solutions Caucus in a GOP-controlled chamber in 2016 with support from the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a grassroots organization that trains and supports volunteers to engage with elected officials on environmental policy. The contingent, in its first iteration, had its highs and lows. It scored a major victory in 2017, when members helped defeat an amendment to that year’s National Defense Authorization Act on the House floor that would have scrapped language requiring the military to study climate risks. (Ed. note - that's it. That's the sum total of their major achievements)

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The caucus didn’t disband then, as Deutch continued to serve as co-chair alongside then-Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.). With Rooney’s 2020 retirement, Garbarino took over on his side of the aisle; following Deutch’s resignation in 2022, Houlahan succeeded him. But the Climate Solutions Caucus in the House never fully recovered from the GOP’s shellacking. In the intervening years, the group has been largely stagnant and certainly not in keeping with the “Noah’s Ark” philosophy.

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https://www.eenews.net/articles/remember-the-climate-solutions-caucus-its-back/