At mid-year, Congress has yet to approve any big climate change legislation—and after all of the controversial reaction to the Green New Deal proposed by New York Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas is surprised about one thing after Democrats took control of the House committees. He told Bloomberg News he has seen more cooperation than he expected on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee of which he is a member.
The Committee is under the leadership of Texas Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson who is pushing legislation on ocean acidification and cleaner fossil fuels.
“I think we are progressing along. You’ve watched the culture of the committee shift a little bit,” with fewer lines being drawn over climate and science issues, he said.
He cited other signs of progress, such as a bipartisan revamping of the National Flood Insurance Program (H.R. 3167) that the House Financial Services Committee approved June 12.
What is surprising is the lack of movement in the area of climate change after Democrats held approximately 30 hearings on the issue. They managed to pass only one significant climate bill, H.R.9, which seeks to block the U.S. from pulling out of the Paris climate deal.
As many observers have indicated, they believe the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate where Republicans are in control.
“They can talk about [environmental legislation], but they’re not going to get it through the Senate and they’re not going to get it signed by the White House, so I don’t worry about it so much,” said Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Measured progress is to be expected as long as Democrats control only one chamber, said Tiernan Sittenfeld, the League of Conservation Voters’ senior vice president of government affairs.
“At this point, progress is going to be less about big environmental legislation being enacted into law, because we have stalwart opponents” in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Trump, she said.
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