Action on Climate in House, But Not Enough for Some

as big a problem as they come. Democrats in the House of Representatives came forward last week with their first attempt to solve climate change since they took control in last year's elections, and some people, including some very prominent Democrats, are a little underwhelmed. To find out more about what is or isn't going on, we went to Capitol Hill to chat with Tiffany Stecker, a reporter who covers Congress for a Bloomberg Environment, and let's head over there right

now and hear from Tiffany. We are here in the Speaker's lobby. We're right outside of the House Chamber. This is where there was a big vote here recently on a climate change bill. This was HR nine. What did this bill do? This bill passed the House right, Yes, it did pass the House passed overwhelmingly on the democratics side. I believe all Democrats that were present voted for the bill.

Three Republicans voted for the bill, which was pretty interesting. Well, what would it do if it actually makes it to the President's desk and if he signs it, which that's another story in and of itself, which will get to very soon. But what would this bill Hr nine do? So this bill essentially blocks the Trump administration from withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. This agreement was decided on in late twenty fifteen, actually adopted by the Obama administration

twenty sixteen. It would have set non binding targets. So this is a voluntary agreement for the US to use their emissions by at least twenty six percent by twenty twenty five. And you know, so for this bill to become a law, of course, as we all know from you know, Schoolhouse Rock, it has to go to the White House and be signed by the president. So the president would have to sign a bill that would prevent

him from doing something that he wants to do. So I don't see that happening for this president or really any other president, you know. So this what's going on with this bill? Why did they pass this. So this this bill is pretty significant because it is the first major climate bill in a decade, and the last time a big climate piece of legislation passed was in two thousand and nine, was the Waxman Marquee Bill that would have set a cap and trade system for the US.

After that, the Republicans held control of the House, their climate change was not a priority for them, and so we didn't see these kind of big packages. So HR nine was introduced by Congresswoman Kathi Casters. She's the chair woman of the Select House Committee on the Climate Crisis.

She's from Florida, right, She is from Florida, and she often talks about how she's been personally affected by climate change because of the extreme weather that we often see in Florida that is set to increase the risk of extreme weather is expected to be to increase with climate change. And she's even said, I mean, according to your reporting, that this bill is symbolic. She knows this is not going to become law, right, I mean, there's no companion

in the Senate. For one, there's a Republican majority in the Senate that does not Mitch McConnell, who's the majority leader there is not interested in taking up this bill. So you know, you mentioned that this bill, you know, had support from a lot of Democrats, basically every Democrat. But I get the sense there were some who voted for it. You know, maybe they weren't too enthusiastic about voting. Yes, you know, there were some who felt it didn't go

far enough. Can you talk about that. There have been some Democrats who say that if you're going to take this moment and introduce a big climate bill, the first one in a decade, make it something big and symbolic and aggressive, you know, set a target, do something that is actually going to reduce carbon emissions, rather than force the administration to do something they have no intention of doing. Almost something like FDR's New Deal, but for the environment.

But maybe we could call it a Green New Deal, right, that's a great name for it. Just came up with it, David. Actually, a Green New Deal, as our listeners may know, is a resolution that was introduced in the House by a Congresswoman Alexandro Caso Cortes and in the Senate by Senator and Marque. It's as an aggressive path to reduce fossil

fuel emissions in the next decade. As you know, there was a big IPCC report last fall that said we basically had twelve years to reduce our carbon emissions drastically. And that's the group out of the UN that studies climate change. They've been issuing sort of really more dire research, it seems like every year, saying, you know, it's even worse than we thought. It's worse than we thought. That's right.

And this last one last fall was really really a shocker for a lot of people because ten years, twelve years is not a very long time, and there's a long way for not just the US but the world to go if they want to keep warming under control. Okay, so we've got let's sort of lay out the political stakes here on both sides of the rotunda. As they say, Democrats in the House are divided. We have Democrats like Alexandria Cassio Cortez pushing the Green New Deal, very aggressive package.

You have more establishment democrats like Kathy Caster saying, you know, let's sort of take one step at a time and maybe you start with a symbolic package. Republicans are in control of the Senate. This is not a priority for them. The White House is controlled by Republicans not a priority for them. What's next? Where do we go from here? Will there be more bills in the House that deal with climate change or is this issue just going to sort of fade away from the headlines for the next

year or two. So Republicans historically have not made climate change a priority, but I think they're realizing now that the public is concerned about this issue and they're coming up with their own proposals that would be more in line with their beliefs as Republicans. So taking advantage of markets promoting certain technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear energy is a pretty divisive issue, but it is zero carbon,

that's right. In fact, we actually loyal listeners of Parts Pervillion will remember on the previous episode we talked with Abby Smith about how Republicans actually are kind of into carbon capture, the technology for sucking carbon dioxide out of the air. The Senator John Barrosso is a big fan of carbon capture. So it sounds like that sort of Bolster's what you said, that Republicans may be changing their tune.

I guess well, yes, Republicans are stepping up to the plate and actually saying climate change is happening, and we knew we need to do something about it, which is a huge step from what they were doing ten years ago, or mean one year ago or even one year ago. So they are coming up with these proposals. They center on nuclear energy, carbon capturing storage. They are also promoting natural gas, of course, which is a fossil fuel, but it can burn with much fewer emissions than coal or oil.

So there, I think the to answer your question on what the path forward is, I think there eventually will have to be some kind of middle ground sought. Finally, the last thing I wanted to ask you about is next year. You know, we have an election year and it kind of pushes both ways, and that sometimes lawmakers are very hesitant to to touch anything controversial an election year.

They want to stay on safe topics. But in the other sense, they also want to be able to go back to their districts when they're running for reelection and say I accomplished this, I did that, I'm you know, and that maybe makes them more eager to cut some deals. What do you think will happen on climate specifically next year? Do you think they'll be more eager to come to

the table or less. Well, it's interesting to compare the race so far for twenty twenty to twenty sixteen, and twenty sixteen you had debates where there were zero questions on energy and climate change. Now it's among the first questions asked to candidates. We have at least two candidates so far that have proposed plans on how to reduce s greenhouse gas emissions. I think that it is going to come up a lot more because people are realizing that this is something they need to address. Is it

going to be the number one issue? I don't know. Healthcare is still huge. We still have a lot a lot of issues that are daily reminder to people, taxes, healthcare, those kinds of things. But climate change is definitely going up there. So we're gonna hear a lot more about that. In twenty twenty, that was Bloomberg Environment Tiffany Stecker talking

about Democrats' plans to address global climate change. You can find more for reporting at our website Newstop Bloomberg Environment dot com, and if you want to chat with us on social media, use the hashtag parts per B. That hashtag, once again is parts per B. Today's episode of Parts Pavilion was produced by myself along with Marissa Horne and Jessica Combs. Nicholas Zelada is our audio engineer. The music for this episode is a message by Jazarre. It was

used under Creative Commons license. Thank you for listening. Hey Tom Allington, I'm the host of a new show from Bloomberg Environment called The Business of Bees. Here's what you need to know about it. We travel around the country talking to people at every corner of the honeybee ecosystem. This is the largest managed pollination event on Earth. In fact, commercial beekeeping is more important to farming than ever before. But bees are also under threat from pesticides and invasive

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