Seventeen House Republicans, led by Reps. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Carlos Curbelo (FL-26) and Ryan Costello (PA-6) re-introduced a climate change resolution with a record level of support. The measure, previously championed by now retired Rep. Chris Gibson, is mostly symbolic but demonstrates the growing interest from the ecoright in embracing climate action.
“With forty percent of Florida’s population at risk from sea-level rise, my state is on the front lines of climate change,” Curbelo said. “South Florida residents are already beginning to feel the effects of climate change in their daily lives from chronic flooding to coral bleaching to threats to our freshwater supply in the Everglades. We cannot ignore these challenges and every member of Congress has a responsibility to our constituents and future generations to support market-based solutions, investments, and innovations that could alleviate the effects of climate change and make our nation more resilient. Our goal with this resolution is to shift the debate from whether climate change is real toward the tangible efforts to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate its effects.” He was joined by Florida delegation mates Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Brian Mast as cosponsors of the measure.
“This issue was regrettably politicized some 20 or so years ago, and we are in the process of taking some of the politics out, reducing the noise, and focusing on the challenge and on the potential solutions,” Curbelo said. He is also a co-founder of the House Climate Solutions Caucus.
“Clean energy innovation is key to addressing the serious issue of climate change,” Stefanik said in a statement. “This resolution brings together the priority of addressing the risks of climate change with the importance of protecting and creating American jobs. Innovation and clean energy are key to solving both.” The resolution uses the same language as Gibson did to call for “private and public solutions to study and address the causes and effects of measured changes to our global and regional climates, including mitigation efforts and efforts to balance human activities that have been found to have an impact.” In total, four New York members put their names on the measure, with Reps. John Faso, John Katko and Tom Reed joining Stefanik’s efforts. The resolutions’s other cosponsors include: Don Bacon of Nebraska; Mark Amodei of Nevada; Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey; Pat Meehan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; Mark Sanford of South Carolina; Mia Love of Utah; Barbara Comstock of Virginia; and Dave Reichert of Washington.