A group of 10 Republican lawmakers are planning to introduce a resolution acknowledging climate change as manmade ahead of the pope’s visit to Washington next week.
Rep. Chris Gibson, a New York Republican, began drafting the resolution in May when the Washington Examiner interviewed him at a small gathering near the Capitol building.
Now Gibson has finished drafting the resolution and has 10 co-sponsors. He plans to introduce the non-binding bill as soon as Thursday in the hope of gaining more backers.
The timing of the resolution is meant to coincide with Pope Francis’ address to a special joint meeting of Congress next week. The pope issued his encyclical on climate change that President Obama supported, but the GOP came out against.
Many Republicans believe Pope Francis has gone too far with his encyclical laying out his thoughts on climate change. In the position paper he describes global warming as a moral issue that must be confronted.
Republicans say the document is too political because it would support actions like those supported by President Obama, such as new regulations to advance renewable energy and close coal power plants. They believe the rules would increase energy bills while making the electric grid less reliable.
“This is a call for action to study how humans are impacting our environment and to look for consensus on areas where we can take action to mitigate the risks and balance our impacts,” Gibson told National Journal on Tuesday.
The leaders of 34 national faith groups will send a letter to members of Congress Thursday backing the resolution, which they say “affirms the impacts of climate change, acknowledges that human activities contributed to these changes, and calls on Congress to act,” according to a statement from the groups.
The Quaker lobby, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, organized the letter, which is signed by the National Council of Churches, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the American Baptist Churches USA, among many others.
“The resolution … could be the first part of a bipartisan response to Pope Francis’s appeal for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet,” the statement reads.
