Six Months Into 116th Congress, Climate "Solutions" Caucus Has 1st Meeting, 4 Members Show Up
The Climate Solutions Caucus met this afternoon to formally launch for the 116th Congress, but only four lawmakers showed up to the meeting. After losing a third of its Republican members in the 2018 midterms, including former co-Chairman Carlos Curbelo of Florida, the caucus has been slow to launch in the new year.
The caucus accumulated nearly 100 members last year — half Republican and half Democratic — and served as a forum for GOP lawmakers to talk about climate change. But environmentalists largely saw it as a way for Republicans to green their credentials for the midterms.
The lackluster attendance at the half-hour meeting today underscores its struggle to maintain relevance, with Democrats using the committees to force Republicans to talk about climate change. But the new Florida GOP co-chairman, Rep. Francis Rooney, noted that the House floor schedule is jam-packed with appropriations work this week, so some members were simply too busy. Rooney himself was hustling to the floor to debate an offshore drilling measure as he emerged from the meeting.
"We had a lot of expressions of interest. They just all had conflicts," Rooney told reporters, adding that he is going to "try to rev up some more enthusiasm" to meet on another day.
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https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1060638179
By all means, Francis. Go ahead and "try and rev up some more enthusiasm" for dealing with the impending collapse of everything that makes civilization possible. Knock yourself out, big guy.
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