The country is on fire, and the biggest obstacle to action is the GOP
In the Pacific Northwest, where high temperatures this time of year are usually in the 70s, residents who never had much need for air conditioning are suffering through an almost apocalyptic heat wave: On Monday it reached 107 in Seattle, 115 in Portland, Ore., and 117 in Salem, Ore.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., members of both parties came together to hammer out a bipartisan infrastructure deal. But to get Republicans to agree to it, President Biden and the Democrats had to set aside almost everything they have proposed to do about climate change.
Thats about as clear a summation of American climate politics in 2021 as you could ask for: the effects of climate change becoming more vivid all the time, Democrats eager to move aggressively on the crisis, and the Republican Party working hard to make sure the federal government does as little as possible.
That isnt to say that the politics are simple. Not every Republican is a deranged climate denier bringing snowballs to the Senate floor to try to prove that climate change is a hoax. The GOP has a diversity of opinion on climate. But while some individual Republicans want to do something, they butt up against a party consensus that emphatically rejects meaningful action, and incentives that push ambitious members of their party toward the most retrograde positions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/29/country-is-fire-biggest-obstacle-action-is-gop/
onecaliberal
(32,858 posts)Theyve shown us they dont care if we all die.
jimfields33
(15,794 posts)Repugs can cry all they want. Were in control.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)We don't seem to be doing either of those things at the moment.
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)of addressing it.
It's what they do.
FreepFryer
(7,077 posts)CanonRay
(14,101 posts)to own the Libs. Yeah, makes the usual amount of sense.
TheFarseer
(9,322 posts)Im not sure Ive ever met a Republican that wanted action on Climate Change.
ancianita
(36,055 posts)I've never met one either who isn't a lockstep follower of their platform, which is a person.
RainCaster
(10,874 posts)Including Manchin and Sinema.
https://www.rawstory.com/exxonmobil-controls-11-senators/