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Well, this is more than a little depressing: The politician who tried reducing NASA funding (and successfully shut it down for over two weeks) is now in charge of the senate subcommittee that effectively controls NASA. More than that, one of the most vocal climate-change detractors is now in charge of the United States Senate's Environmental committee. Let's let that sink in for a minute, shall we? Despite all the progress we've made so far with things like unmanned, deep-space space-flight and our efforts toward limiting the negative effects that humans have had on the environment, any future plans are...

At the end of last year, with most of his colleagues stuck in Washington for an important Senate session on a Saturday, Sen. James M. Inhofe was in Tulsa getting spurs fastened onto a pair of boots. “They’re ostrich,” said Inhofe (R-Okla.), the country’s most prominent climate-change denier, referring to his footwear. “Probably some endangered species; I have a reputation to maintain.” Inhofe could have been wearing Birkenstocks and it wouldn’t have put a dent in his notoriety. The senator cemented his status as public enemy No. 1 for environmentalists long ago, topping it off with his 2012 book on...

Sen. Jim Inhofe said he plans to use a legislative maneuver that would allow rejection of environmental regulations by majority vote to take whacks at President Obama's agenda, signaling a contentious two years between the White House and Congress with the Oklahoma Republican helming the Environment and Public Works Committee. Inhofe said he intends to use the Congressional Review Act to strike down a proposed rule limiting carbon emissions from power plants along with other regulations once they are finalized. Any attempt to do so, however, almost certainly would be vetoed by Obama, who has said he plans to protect...

Sen. James M. Inhofe, an the Oklahoma Republican who once compared the Environmental Protection Agency to the gestapo, is likely to lead the Environment and Public Works Committee when the GOP takes control of the Senate next year. If approved, Inhofe would replace Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), an avowed environmentalist, producing one of the most stark post-election changes in the Capitol. Committee assignments will not be made until Senate party caucuses meet in Washington after the election recess. Inhofe, who has served in the Senate for two decades, is an iconic figure to both environmental and energy lobbyists. He chaired...

In handing Republicans control of the Senate on Tuesday, Americans effectively voted for the party's hostile plans against President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy. Their votes also put the Senate's environment and climate policy into the hands of the worst science-denier in national politics: Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who is almost certainly the next chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Inhofe claimed in 2003 that global warming might help humanity. “It's also important to question whether global warming is even a problem for human existence. Thus far no one has seriously demonstrated any scientific proof that increased global...

It wasn’t long ago that coal executives were openly discussing their dream of Republicans seizing the White House and making Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe — who believes climate change is a “hoax” concocted by greedy scientists — the head of the EPA. Now, they have a second chance. As dark money groups and SuperPACs backed by millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry are propelling Republicans to a Senate majority, climate science-denying politicians are likely to seize control of key committee chairmanships, a coup for companies seeking to pollute the atmosphere with impunity. What’s more, Inhofe is slated to...

Reaction to the president’s prime-time speech on ramping up efforts to take on the terror group ISIS ranged, not surprisingly, from very supportive — loyal huzzahs from Democrats such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Richard J. Durbin — to openly dismissive: Sen. Ted Cruz called the president “unserious.” “Tonight’s speech was disappointing, but not surprising. The President’s approach to ISIS has been – and remains – fundamentally unserious,” the Texas Republican said in a statement. An even more withering assessment of President Barack Obama’s address came from Oklahoma Republican Sen. James M. Inhofe. “Tonight, the President’s strategy...

<p>“We're in the most dangerous position we've ever been in as a nation,” Senator Inhofe told Fox 25's Phil Cross.</p> <p>“ISIS, they are really bad terrorists, they're so bad even Al Qaida is afraid of them,” Inhofe said reflecting on the recent beheading of American journalist James Foley. Beyond the beheading, Inhofe said the current terror organizations are not going to stay contained to the Middle East. “They're crazy out there and they're rapidly developing a method of blowing up a major U.S. city and people just can't believe that's happening.”</p>

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Oklahoma City FOX affiliate KOKH 25 that because of the threat of groups like ISIS “we're in the most dangerous position we've ever been in as a nation.” “[ISIS], they're crazy out there, and they're rapidly developing a method of blowing up a major US city” he said.

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunni militants are working on the capability to wipe out a city inside the United States. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has long threatened to carry out a catastrophic attack on American soil, with a spokesman recently boasting that the militant group would fly its flag over the White House. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said ISIS members are “rapidly developing a method of blowing up a major U.S. city and people just can’t believe that’s happening.” “Yes, it’s really significant what’s happening,” he added during a local...

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) blocked Senate Democrats on Monday from passing a resolution that would have acknowledged the reality of climate change. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked unanimous consent to pass S.Res. 524, which is a measure that expresses the sense of the Senate that climate change is occurring and poses a risk to the United States. But Inhofe objected. “All we wanted to say in this resolution is climate change is happening,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on the Senate floor. “We can’t afford to sit around here debating whether climate change is real.” Inhofe has been an ardent...

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday said the “nation deserves better answers” from President Obama on how to handle the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. The president announced he is still considering options for how to best deal with extremist groups marching their way across the country to Baghdad. He insisted that the U.S. would not be dragged back into an armed conflict and that the Iraqi government must step up to meet the security challenge. “Today was another example of him pushing responsibility for his foreign policy failures off on everyone but himself,” Sen....

Senator James Inhofe thinks people should stop talking about Bergdahl and look at the dangerous situation we are now in because of the release of the five Taliban. Senator Inhofe was in a closed door hearing last evening with a State rep, Intel rep, and Joint Chiefs, to discuss the releases. He said there was complete uniformity in opinion as to the seriousness of releasing the five Taliban. “We have the five most dangerous people out there.” We must talk about “the real risk to us now,” warned Inhofe. In speaking of Mr. Obama’s actions, he said, “First of all,...

The Obama administration insisted that the Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans erupted from a protest over an anti-Muslim video because any hint of organized terrorism would have debunked President Barack Obama's assertions that his Mideast policy was working, Sen. Jim Inhofe said on Saturday. "They were pushing the video thing because it was just a matter of days before that he had made the American people think that his Middle East policy had stopped all terrorist activity," the Oklahoma Republican told Jeanine Pirro on her Fox News program. "This was a couple of months before the election. "Obviously, with...

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Monday said President Obama lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi during an interview that aired before the Super Bowl. Inhofe said the 2012 terrorist attack in Libya will “go down in history as the greatest cover-up,” and slammed Obama for claiming it was thoroughly investigated. “It’s just an outrageous lie. It’s kind of hard to call it anything else. It’s kind of like ObamaCare and the things he said in the beginning and now he’s denying it,” Inhofe said during a radio interview on 1170 KFAQ’s "The Pat Campbell Show," which based in Tulsa,...

When Fox News host Bill O’Reilly interviewed President Obama before the Super Bowl, we knew sparks might fly. And the segment on Benghazi is provoking a lot of indignation. First, the relevant bit of the conversation as transcribed by Fox News: OBAMA: -- we don't know yet who's doing it. Understand, by definition, Bill, when somebody is attacking our compound... O'REILLY: Yes? OBAMA: -- that's an act of terror, which is how I characterized it the day after it happened. So the -- so the question ends up being who, in fact, was attacking us? O'REILLY: But it's more...

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee hearing today that the president must have fabricated two oft-repeated climate claims. “Both statements are false,” Sen. Inhofe said of Obama’s global warming claims, since neither the EPA nor the U.N. IPCC climate group can provide any supporting statistics […] “… (A)nd through letters to you, Ms. McCarthy, and on the record in this Committee, we’ve asked the EPA to provide us with the data backing up these two statements, the two statements made by the president, but they don’t have any data and referred us to...

Controversial Republican Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe has confirmed that his son died in a plane crash on Sunday. Dr. Perry Inhofe worked as an orthopedic surgeon in Tulsa and was piloting the Mitsubishi MU-2B-25 twin turboprop aircraft that came down five miles from Tulsa International Airport. Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman George Brown said authorities confirmed that one person died in the crash which occurred at 3.40 p.m.in a heavily wooded area. According to flight tracking websites the aircraft took off from Salina, Kansas and was due to land at the airport after a 45 minute flight. Pilots cleared to land...

Plane crashed around 4 p.m. after reporting engine trouble ... Dr. Perry Inhofe was an orthopedic surgeon in Tulsa. According to his biographical information on the Central States Orthopedics website, Inhofe attended Duke University and studied biomedical engineering and electrical engineering. He graduated in 1984. Perry Inhofe then attended Washington University in St. Louis for medical school. He graduated in 1988 and did postgraduate training at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis and the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

Dr. Perry Inhofe, the son of Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., has died in a plane crash. Oklahoma City television station KOCO says a source close to the senator has confirmed his son was on board a plane that crashed near Owasso, Okla., on Sunday. The plane crashed in a wooded area about five miles north of Tulsa International Airport at 4 p.m., approximately 15 minutes after the pilot reported engine trouble.