We’re still unpacking gems from yesterday’s House Ways and Means Committee carbon tax hearing. While there is still an uphill climb to get more buy-in on a carbon tax, there’s also been a shift in conservative thinking and approach to solving climate change. Take this: “We have gone from full of claims of [being] climate deniers to now we seem to be progress deniers,” the committee’s top Republican Rep. Kevin Brady said. “We are making progress. Is it enough? Absolutely not. But we can learn from what’s brought us that progress to solve the challenge ahead of us, which is real.” Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert said that regulation and carbon pricing were not the only possible solutions to climate change. “I believe there’s a third leverthat’s disruptive technology.”
New York’s Rep. Tom Reed, who last year sponsored an energy innovation tax credit and was a member of the House Climate Solutions Caucus, called for more innovation.
From #CleanEnergyChampion @RepTomReed: We want & need to improve the #climate & make sure our kids/grandkids have a cleaner #environment. We agree empowering innovators is our top priority – we need to lead the world with our #innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. #GOPEnergy pic.twitter.com/Wj8WDPbWN6
CRES (@Citiz4Solutions) May 15, 2019
“As a proud Republican, I think that unleashing the power of the market should be our top priority.” Today he was published in The Hill: First step toward fighting climate change is simple. “We need tax policies to accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies by incentivizing entrepreneurs and allowing the energy sector to mirror Silicon Valley’s innovation fast, disruptive, exciting and good for consumers,” he writes. “Enabling cleaner, more efficient energy technologies to compete in a free market should be the goal of the U.S. government’s approach to energy. After all, it’s not just about the here and now it’s about our future.”
Former Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo had his invitation to testify revoked, but still managed to get his testimony inserted into the record of the hearing. He noted: “Republicans are light-years from where they were when I left this building in January.”