Posted on 04/09/2008 7:38:42 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Senate Republicans began an unusual closed-door debate on climate change Wednesday that may portend a shift toward the position of the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
The meeting of the conference launched GOP efforts to find a common position on global warming, an issue on which Republicans have been sharply divided.
The issue has taken on a greater urgency within Republican circles now that all the major presidential candidates, including McCain, support mandatory controls of greenhouse gases. This represents a sharp break with the Bush administration, which has fought such proposals vigorously.
Wednesday’s meeting did not produce a consensus and may have ultimately helped solidify GOP opposition to the leading proposal on climate change. Still, several Republican senators said it marked a shift in the debate.
Instead of arguing over the science underpinning global warming, the meeting focused almost exclusively on the impact a mandatory system to control greenhouse gases would have on the economy and the environment.
“We’re beyond that,” said Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who does not yet support caps on emissions. “I think now it’s time for serious thinking as to what works.”
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who famously dubbed human-induced global warming a “hoax,” said the argument against climate controls is easier when focused on the economic costs instead of science. He also said he didn’t have enough time to rail against the science at Wednesday’s meeting.
“If you open up [the debate over the science], you can go on for hours,” Inhofe said.
Sen. Mel Martinez (R), whose state of Florida could potentially be affected by rising ocean levels, said he was “very delighted” Inhofe didn’t bring up the science debate, but said he has not yet given his support to emissions controls.
“I believe we need to act,” Martinez said.
The Senate is expected in June to bring up a bill that would impose mandatory, economy-wide restrictions on greenhouse gases. The bill, drafted by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), would establish a so-called cap-and-trade system that would allow industries to purchase credits for the right to continue emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases above allowable levels.
But support for the Lieberman-Warner measure remains lukewarm within the GOP conference because of concerns of its impact on fuel prices and the economy. Republican opposition will make it difficult for the bill to win the necessary 60 votes on the floor to secure final passage.
Still, the prospects that the bill will hit the floor in the heat of a campaign season means the next Congress will almost certainly be forced to deal with the issue, increasing the need for the Senate Republican Conference to reach a consensus.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Republican Conference, said Wednesday’s meetings were the start of talks aimed at eventually developing coalitions that could support proposals to curb greenhouse gases.
“We need to take climate change and clean air on as an urgent issue,” said Alexander, who added that about two dozen Republicans had ideas on how to handle the issue. Alexander, who said the meeting had been planned for about three months, has authored legislation aimed at controlling emissions from power plants, but has been skeptical of an economy-wide approach.
Republicans said they wanted to counter the impression that the Republican Party does not worry about a warming planet.
“It’s a significant issue, that’s why we’re talking about it,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“We’re trying to find common ground, and it’s hard to do,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who has drafted a compromise cap-and-trade bill with Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas), who chairs the Republican Policy Committee, said there will eventually be consensus on some of the issues presented at the meeting.
“We need to do positive things, and we just need to do them in a responsible way,” she said.
The 20 or so senators who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting presented a variety of points of view, and some touched on polling data that suggest Americans are concerned about rising energy costs, according to GOP senators.
That was the conclusion of a March poll commissioned by The Institute for Energy Research, a nonprofit that receives financial support from energy companies and other groups. It concluded Americans are divided on the science, but said that the public is concerned about the impact rising energy costs would have on the environment.
“Voters are much more skeptical about the science than we had previously assumed, so it naturally follows that most are also unwilling to accept the costs and job losses associated with cap-and-trade legislation,” said Thomas Pyle, president of the institute. “In short, the matter is far from settled in the eyes of the public.”
Supporters of the Warner-Lieberman plan dispute that conclusion, pointing to an analysis conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting that the plan’s benefits would outweigh the costs. The presidential candidates argue new controls would spur job growth in new industries focused on developing technologies to slash emissions.
We’re going to have to pull out all the stops and swamp congress with faxes, phone calls, and e-mails just like we did with amnesty to prevent these idiots from going along with the global-warming hoax. It will cost us trillions and tank the economy for decades.
“My long affiliation with the GOP is about to end. Not only are they idiots, they are late-adopter idiots who are on jumping on the back end of the AGW bandwagon just as the skeptic bandwagon is taking off. What a bunch of maroons - dumbocrats in whigs!”
Hear, hear!
This party is going to the sh**house fast.
They truly are astonishing. Lets adopt a totally ridiculous “cap and trade” scheme in the middle of an economic downturn so we can destroy the rest of the economy while we are at it. Lets drive more business offshore.
Between the moronic ethanol subsidies and a virtual ban on new oil drilling to a Fed devaluing the dollar, the stupid party is worrying about, Global Warming.
Were not there numerous analyses "proving" that converting corn and other "renewables" to ethanol and other "alternative fuels" will bring us closer to "energy independence", make air cleaner and reduce "global warming", and would lower the price of oil and gasoline etc. etc. etc.? I am sure there were "studies" doing just that!
Everybody could benefit from a good vermifuge (worming). While my dog doesn't particularly enjoy the shits he gets from the worming process, he's better off for it. As we all would be, if it were applied globally.
That pandering scumbag Alexander should have been cut off at the knees when he first ran for the Senate. I seem to recall he ran against a conservative in the primary. I don't suppose Tennessee has any shot at unloading Alexander and replacing him with somebody decent?
The “global warming” hoax is the perfect, fabricated “issue” that will separate the men from the boys, the pandering cowards from the stand-up guys.
Atlas is shrugging...
There exists a test for determining whether any person ACTUALLY believes in Anthropogenic Global Warming. It consists of only one question, which, if answered truthfully, provides an absolute determination of one’s belief:
****Will you swear/solemnly affirm to publicly, openly, and diligently expend every effort to replace all combustion power plants in America with nuclear power plants?****
If the answer is not a loud “YES,” they are not true believers. This question needs to be asked, loudly, of every politician and climate pimp who claims to “believe.”
DG
p.s. “Cap and Trade” is only a mechanism for sending more billions to Communist China, without even getting cheap, (sometimes slave/prisoner made) goods in return.
We do NOT ruin the American economy!
How much time does it take for a Senator to say, “The big bright, hot object in the middle of the solar system propls climate change, not puny little man.”
Did millions of Americans fight, die and become maimed just so this nation can be ruined by environmentalists?
Someone here tell me they believe that mankind is in anyway affecting the climate of the planet. I dare you!
First the Southern Baptists, and now the whole GOP. The conservative movement will soon be dead. Hopefully Rush Limbaugh will hit this hard today!!
First the Southern Baptists, and now the whole GOP. The conservative movement will soon be dead. Hopefully Rush Limbaugh will hit this hard today!!
—
Rush is at The Masters today and tomorrow.
Jason Lewis is filling in.
It may well be too late to save the ship,, best to have life jackets in hand.. and whistles on lip. (for what or why, I don’t know.)
RINOs are like the illegal immigrants of the Congress...
doing the legislating the Nanny State work the real Socialists wont do.
It’s right to disdain the move to embrace ‘lets do something’. We need more than Inhofe in there explaining what’s going on. The GOP needs a clear position? Here it is:
Climate Realism:
1. Global Warming due to CO2 is a real effect, actual warming due to CO2 has lower magnitude than IPCC model estimates, there are serious errors and imprecisions in the models that preclude assuming significant warming is a probability. AGW is not a crisis.
2. Regulations do not work. Cap-and-trade failed in Europe and will fail in the US. Action without China reducing CO2 is pointless.
3. The real answer is technology. A move to nuclear power will cut CO2 emissions in half or more. We could meet well beyond cap-and-trade targets by simply encouraging nuclear power.
I think the comments must be missing something.
It’s an election year, and our Spineless Ones are only doing this if there are poll #s that tell them they are on the losing side of an issue.
All the more reason to write notes to Congress and to tell them that Globaloney is a fraud and they are regulating on the basis of No Good Reason. A three-point “Climate Realism” Position is what is needed.
EXCELLENT POINT!
“There exists a test for determining whether any person ACTUALLY believes in Anthropogenic Global Warming. It consists of only one question, which, if answered truthfully, provides an absolute determination of one’s belief:
****Will you swear/solemnly affirm to publicly, openly, and diligently expend every effort to replace all combustion power plants in America with nuclear power plants?****
If the answer is not a loud “YES,” they are not true believers. This question needs to be asked, loudly, of every politician and climate pimp who claims to “believe.””
I say YES, and I’m an AGW skeptic. Replacing coal with nuclear will be cleaner and will get the CO2 monkey off our backs for a long while.
I have been saying that since the 1970's and have nothing else to add.
>> “Replacing coal with nuclear will be cleaner and will get the CO2 monkey off our backs for a long while.”
Precisely. Furthermore, It is the only option which could actually cause Electric Vehicles (battery powered) to become a net REDUCER of of both actual pollution, and CO2.
I am not personally very excited about nuclear power, but it would reduce our dependence on foreign oil, would reduce actual pollution, and provide stability to our economy. Also, developing countries would (due to decreasing demand from US) be able to buy oil more cheaply, helping their economies. Also, OPEC nations would get less for their oil, thus damaging their economies. With cheap(er) nuclear power, American factories could make vastly more fertilizers, cheaper, for our own farmers and those in developing countries.
FOR THOSE REASONS, and worse, there is no way that environ-mental cases will NEVER allow it.
>>>>”Seattle animal-rights activist Josh Harper sees ‘a spark of hope in every broken window, every torched police car and every mink running free as their hearts desire.’ For the 26-year-old anarchist, those acts are necessary to achieve his ultimate goal: ‘The complete collapse of industrial civilization.’”<<<<
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/27876_harper18.shtml
The above is not some isolated nutcase. There are many thousands just like him and worse. The unabomber believed exactly the same.
We are in a battle for civilization; the barbarians are among us.
DG
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