<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-page__title gmail-title" id="gmail-page-title" style="line-height:1.2em;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal">Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</span></font></h1><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal">Wow!  The republicans have a climate change revolt in their ranks against the party line opposition to addressing global warming!  Three republicans voted with US House democrats?</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal">I'm just joking, of course!</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal">-------------------------</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal">From article copied below:</span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal"><br></span></font></div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">"The bill passed 231 to 190, with three Republicans crossing the aisle to approve it with the Democrats."</span></div><div>----------------------- <font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal"><br></span></font></div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">“'Environmental protection and economic growth are not mutually exclusive,' Florida Republican Representative Vern Buchanan, one of three Republicans who voted for the act, said, as The Washington Post reported."'</span><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal"><br></span></font></div><h1 class="gmail-page__title gmail-title" id="gmail-page-title" style="line-height:1.2em;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight:normal">--------------------------------------</span></font></h1><h1 class="gmail-page__title gmail-title" id="gmail-page-title" style="line-height:1.2em;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif">House Passes First Major Climate Bill in 10 Years</h1><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/05/03/paris-trump-house-passes-first-major-climate-bill-10-years">https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/05/03/paris-trump-house-passes-first-major-climate-bill-10-years</a>  <br></div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/house-climate-change-bill-2636180068.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/house-climate-change-bill-2636180068.html</a> </div><div> <br></div><div>Olivia Rosane </div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">May 3, 2019 </span> </div><div><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">The</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px"> </span><span class="gmail-caps" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px"> </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">House of Representatives approved its first major </span><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_blank" style="font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">climate change</a><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px"> legislation in a decade on Thursday, </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climate/house-backs-paris-agreement-in-first-climate-bill-in-a-decade-idUSKCN1S81OI" target="_blank" style="font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">Reuters reported</a><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">. The </span><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/9/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22HR+9%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=1" target="_blank" style="font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204);outline:0px">Climate Action Now Act</a><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px"> would require President </span><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_blank" style="font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">Donald Trump</a><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px"> to keep the</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px"> </span><span class="gmail-caps" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px"> </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">in the </span><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_blank" style="font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">Paris agreement</a><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">, mandating that he outlines steps to reduce greenhouse emissions and prohibiting him from using federal funds to withdraw from the agreement.</span><br></div><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">The bill passed 231 to 190, with three Republicans crossing the aisle to approve it with the Democrats. It is unlikely to pass the Senate, but the Democrats see it as a way to stake out a climate position ahead of the 2020 election and to signal to the international community that a future Democratic president would stay in the agreement, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/05/02/house-passes-bill-force-us-stay-paris-climate-agreement/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.997fe152f592" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">The Washington Post reported</a>.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">“Passing this bill is an important signal to our allies, and my expectation is that when we act, we'll see increased ambition from them, too,” Democratic Florida Representative Kathy Castor, who sponsored the legislation and chairs the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, told the press before the vote, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">While Trump <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trumps-withdraws-paris-climate-agreement-2429436831.html" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">promised to withdraw</a> from the Paris accord in June 2017, he cannot legally do so until November 2020.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">“That's an interesting date, isn't it?” Castor said.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the bill would “go nowhere” in the Senate and called it a “futile gesture to handcuff the <span class="gmail-caps" style="font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span> economy,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/get-started?EXIT_URI=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2019%2F05%2F02%2Fclimate%2Fcongress-paris-climate-agreement.html&auth=login-facebook&login=facebook" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">In debating the measure, House Republicans focused on the Paris agreement's impact on the <span class="gmail-caps" style="font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span> economy and either avoided discussions of the science of climate change itself or acknowledged it as an issue worth confronting. Instead of denying science, they argued that other countries in the agreement, particularly China and India, had not pledged enough.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">The Obama administration had promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2025; China promised to slow its emissions growth and reach peak carbon in 2030, and India said it would reduce the carbon dioxide emitted per unit of gross domestic product while still allowing overall emissions to rise.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">In the debate ahead of the vote, Texas Republican Representative Jodey Arrington called the deal “a gift to our enemies” and Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise said it would send jobs to China and India. However, not all Republicans portrayed climate action as a threat to the <span class="gmail-caps" style="font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span> economy.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">“Environmental protection and economic growth are not mutually exclusive,” Florida Republican Representative Vern Buchanan, one of three Republicans who voted for the act, said, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">Some green groups applauded Thursday's vote. <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">Sierra Club</a> Executive Director Michael Brune <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/05/house-democrats-pass-historic-bill-rebuke-trump-paris-agreement" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">called the bill</a> “an important opportunity for every member of Congress to affirm on the record that the <span class="gmail-caps" style="font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span> must be a leader in addressing the climate crisis.”</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">Others <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-action-now-act-2636094272.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">argued</a> that it did not go far enough.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">“The latest science is clear: In order to adequately address deepening climate chaos, we must transition completely to clean, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">renewable energy</a> generation in little more than a decade,” <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">Food <span class="gmail-amp">&</span> Water Watch</a> Executive Director Wenonah Hauter said ahead of the vote. “The terms of the Paris accord aren't low-hanging fruit, they're fruit that has fallen to the ground and begun to rot.”</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">Scientists have said that if all the world's countries met their pledges under the Paris agreement, it would not be enough to prevent a dangerous rise in temperature, The New York Times reported.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">Democratic Representative <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/alexandria-ocasio-cortez" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204);outline:0px">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a>, who has championed a more ambitious <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/green-new-deal" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(51,153,204)">Green New Deal</a> that would transition the <span class="gmail-caps" style="font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span> to net zero emissions within 10 years, said Thursday's act needed to be the precursor to more legislation.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">“The idea that we can just reintroduce 2009 policies is not reflective of action that is necessary for now in the world of today,” she said.</p><p style="margin:1em 0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"open sans",sans-serif;font-size:14.3px">2009 was the last year that the House passed major climate change legislation, according to The New York Times. That bill would have put a cap on <span class="gmail-caps" style="font-size:0.9em">U.S.</span> emissions and let businesses and utilities trade permits to emit, but it failed to advance in the Senate.</p></div>