Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., condemned those people who embrace “alarmism” when discussing the dangers of climate change.
During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Sasse said politicians who prioritize climate action often don’t offer valid ways to address the issue.
“Right now you don’t hear a lot of people who put climate as their No. 1 issue, you don’t hear a lot of them offering constructive, innovative solutions for the future, it’s usually just a lot of alarmism, but I think the report is important and it shows that the climate is changing,” Sasse said.
The Trump administration released a report Friday that warned natural disasters associated with climate change are worsening in the U.S. The disasters pose a threat to Americans’ health and may cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars by 2100 if no changes are made.
Sasse said the report was “important,” but he was pressed by host Chris Wallace about why he opposed climate change efforts under former President Barack Obama, opposing Environmental Protection Agency “overreach.”
Sasse stressed that this is a “global issue,” and that the solution is to have the U.S. participate in a “long-term conversation about how you get to innovation and it’s going to need to be a conversation that doesn’t start with alarmism, but that starts with some discussion of the magnitude of the challenge, the global elements to it, and how the U.S. shouldn’t do this as a feel-good measure.”
Sasse applauded Chinese investment in green technology, such as solar panels, but expressed no regret when pressed on how President Trump is pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate deal, arguing that it was “more binding on us than on other nations,” which is “not good for the U.S. consumer.”
