Help Us, Climate Solutions Caucus!! You're Our Only Hope!! (1/2+ Of GOP Members Leaving/Targeted)
More than half of the Republican members of the House Climate Solutions Caucus are either retiring or facing strong competition in their reelection bids. When the new Congress meets in January, the group’s membership numbers could decline noticeably from its current count of 86. Several Republicans, who are not shoo-ins to win reelection, have joined the caucus over the past year. They represent districts where membership in a congressional group focused on climate change could help overcome the negative perception many of their constituents hold of President Donald Trump’s environmental policies.
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Membership on the Climate Solutions Caucus would probably be larger if it did not follow a policy of requiring equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. Despite a strong growth spurt over the past year, many Democrats are still waiting to join the caucus, according to Flannery Winchester, communications coordinator for the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Right now, 43 of the 236 Republicans in the House are members of the caucus.
The long list of Democratic members waiting to join the caucus “really speaks volumes,” Winchester said. Even with the rapid growth of the caucus over this last two years, many other lawmakers want to join the group, Winchester said Tuesday in an email to ThinkProgress.
“Climate change has become a safe, smart topic for politicians to discuss across the spectrum,” said Winchester, “and lots of members of Congress are interested in joining the conversation.”
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Yes, yes, let's "discuss" and keep on discussing! "Conversation"! Gooooodd!!!
Just ask Matt Gaetz - he's a member, and he'd like to abolish the EPA.
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In February of 2017, Gaetz filed a one-sentence bill to abolish the EPA, stating that "this legislation is necessary because it is the states and local communities that are best positioned to responsibly regulate the environmental assets within their jurisdictions."
"The American people are drowning in rules and regulations promulgated by unelected bureaucrats; and the Environmental Protection Agency has become an extraordinary offender," continued Gaetz.
Besides attempting to gut the one government agency responsible for regulating our country's pollution, Gaetz also applauded Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, and said that global warming could be something that's totally natural.
Sure, the congressman did join the 86-member Climate Solutions Caucus, a mostly symbolic bipartisan group of lawmakers who've essentially pledged to look like they care about climate change – but, of course, he's also stopped short of supporting any real solutions.
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https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/08/07/florida-republican-who-tried-to-abolish-epa-says-toxic-algae-crisis-is-horrifying
https://thinkprogress.org/failed-reelection-bids-and-retirements-could-thin-the-ranks-of-republicans-on-climate-caucus-0cbf19ab3007/