Republicans' Blather On Climate "Policy" Does Not Please Their Masters At CEI, Freedumb Caucus
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The Competitive Enterprise Institute and other groups opposed to regulations want to increase political pressure on Republicans who are proposing climate action to "educate them and thereby bring them back into line," said Myron Ebell, director of CEI's Center for Energy and Environment and head of the Trump EPA transition team.
Ebell said he is particularly concerned that there seems to be a push among House leadership to craft climate policy. He accused House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of misleading others in the party and said some lawmakers, including Reps. Garret Graves (R-La.) and Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), have been misinformed by advocates on the value of clean energy.
"It's when conservatives have decided to offer alternatives, they have gotten beat, because in the public's mind it becomes very difficult to tell the difference between the left's plan and the right's plan and then pretty soon they're compromising it, they're coming to some sort of middle ground and pretty soon we've lost the whole issue," he said. Ebell added: "It's pretty clear to anybody who looks at it, there is no middle ground."
A spokesman for Gaetz said the congressman has discussed "the reality of climate change" with Republican lawmakers as well as with Trump. Gaetz, who once proposed eliminating EPA, is optimistic that more Republicans will eventually form their own plans to address climate change, spokesman Luke Ball said. Gaetz doesn't view those in the party who reject science as a lost cause because the scientific evidence is now so overwhelming that it will push others to act, his spokesman said.
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Nonetheless, conservatives who oppose climate policy plan to escalate their attacks if members of the party don't back down. The recent 16-page brochure attacked a few lawmakers for being concerned about climate change, labeling Gaetz as "one Republican to fall for the climate-baiting guilt-trip." The pamphlet, which misrepresents and distorts climate science, portrays Republicans as politically victorious when they reject climate policy. It blamed the late Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain's loss in the 2008 presidential election on his climate policy. Steve Milloy, editor of JunkScience.com and the author of the pamphlet, said it's a signal to Republicans not to get out of line on climate policy. Democrats have united on the other side, he said, and the GOP should also do the same. He blamed Republican actions on climate change on young staffers who don't yet understand the party's position. Milloy said he plans to make sure other lawmakers don't "drift" and warned he would extend his advocacy beyond pamphlets. "People say all kinds of shit, and if they stop saying it, then OK, but if they persist, well, tougher action will be required," he said. "Then it's going to be ugly."
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https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060410993