Energy

A Bipartisan House Caucus On Climate Change Is Slowly Imploding

REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

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Chris White Tech Reporter
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A bipartisan group of lawmakers who make up the House climate caucus is starting to fall apart as Democrats antagonize their Republican colleagues to embrace something bigger than a carbon tax.

A Republican-sponsored measure taxing carbon is a “missed opportunity” to pursue something larger, Rep. Ted Deutch said in an Axios interview Thursday. He is concerned that fellow Florida lawmaker, GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who spearheaded the measure, is not taking the issue seriously enough.

Deutch is upset that Curbelo went his own way with the carbon tax, a measure that received significant pushback from conservatives. “What I want more than anything is a Congress willing to step up and take action on climate change,” he said. “That’s more important to me than a conversation across the table.”

Curbelo, whose district voted overwhelmingly for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, also voted against a different GOP measure passed July 19 condemning carbon taxes. He was one of six Republicans who pushed back on the anti-carton tax deal – one opponent is a die-hard supporter of President Donald Trump.

Conservative groups ConservAmerica and republicEn have doubled efforts to recruit Republican lawmakers to work on rebutting climate skepticism. They also want to hijack the Democrats’ traditional stranglehold on the environmental movement. (RELATED: GOP Groups Call Carbon Tax A Free Market Solution To Climate Change)

Their fledgling crusade has yet to gain much support from Republicans on Capitol Hill. A mere 20 or so of the 237 Republican congressmen have made tough talk against climate change a part of their rhetorical repertoire.

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