The Senate’s No. 2 Democrat slammed the Republican Party Tuesday as the “only major political party in the world today” that denies the science behind climate change.
Minority Whip Dick Durbin took shots at the GOP as debate continued on a bill authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, in which Democrats plan to offer an amendment putting Republicans on record regarding climate change.
“I believe that the Republican Party of the United States of America, represented in the United States Senate, is the only major political party in the world today that denies global warming and climate change,” the Illinois Democrat said Tuesday on the floor. “It is the only major political party which refuses to accept the premise, well-established in science, well-established by our Department of Defense, that our activity as human beings on Earth is changing the world we live in, and not for the better.”
Scientists say that human activity is driving climate change, largely through burning fossil fuels. While some Republicans have acknowledged humans play a role, others are skeptical of whether humans are responsible for warming the planet.
By pushing forward with an amendment on climate change, Democrats hope to paint the GOP as out of touch with science and as too extreme for the electorate.
But Republicans have said they object to the way the Obama administration is addressing climate change.
They’re chiefly opposed to an Environmental Protection Agency proposed rule that aims to cut carbon emissions from power plants 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
They say that effort could stunt the economy by raising electricity rates, in turn costing jobs in the coal mining industry and energy-intensive manufacturing.
