Portman, Ayotte, Kirk All Suddenly Reveal They Care Deeply Re. Environmental Issues

[hatrack]

EDIT

Some Republicans have already made that choice — and they’re pivoting toward the center on climate policy. Early this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) filed an amendment to the 2017 energy bill specifying that climate change is real and that human activity contributes to the problem. Notably, the amendment fails to quantify how much of a role humans play in climate change, but it does state that Congress has a responsibility in taking actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions and support clean-energy technology.

The amendment was co-sponsored by four Republican senators — Mark Kirk (IL), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Susan Collins (ME) and Rob Portman (OH). Three of those senators — Kirk, Ayotte, and Portman — are currently running tight campaigns for reelection against opponents that tout strong records in environment and climate policy among their accomplishments.

EDIT

Portman, for his part, sponsored an energy efficiency bill which was signed into law last year. But Portman has also been a vocal opponent of President Obama's Clean Power Plan, and voted "no" on an an amendment last year that said that "human activity significantly" contributes to climate change, arguing that he is not sure how much of a role humans are playing in the problem. Portman faces a challenge from Democrat Ted Strickland, who championed renewable energy and solar power during his time as Ohio governor. Current polls show Strickland with a razor-thin lead over Portman.

Illinois' Kirk -- who is up against Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a lawmaker a lifetime score of 85 percent on the environment from the League of Conservation Voters -- has publicly waffled on his views on climate change, though his support of Graham's amendment suggests that he now is of the position that climate change is both real and caused, at least in part, by human activity. His voting track record, however, is less than stellar: In 2015, he voted to overturn the Clean Water Rule, which would protect the water of nearly a third of Americans, and voted numerous times to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Kirk did break with party lines over the Clean Power Plan, however, voting against Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) resolution that sought to block the EPA's carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants, which have been viewed by many as the cornerstone of President Obama's domestic climate policy.

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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/28/3773402/republican-senators-embrace-climate/

[villager]

1. "Here -- scoot this Titanic deck chair over there a few feet."

"Great job, Senator!"

[angstlessk]

2. Hey, what we denied for decades may be true, but it's too late to do anything

because it will cost money that we need to fight wars and terrorism...(although you are more likely to be shot and/or killed by a toddler than a terrorist)

[Person 2713]

3. Kirk won't be in congress much longer this Illinois citizen predicts. Too little too late senators

[rpannier]

4. Kirk probably has known this for the last 3 years (or more)

I know a lot of people who predicted a one and done thing
No one felt the Democrats would make the same mistake in 2016 and rally around a deeply flawed, banking crook again